Scales
by WordStained
Summary: For fourteen years, he spent his life pretending he didn't exist. Alone and hidden by his father from the inhabitants of Berk, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III feels like his life is only just beginning when he dares to sneak out of his home and wander the forest, where he meets an unlikely friend.
1. Home

Summary: For fourteen years, he spent his life pretending he didn't exist. Alone and hidden by his father from the inhabitants of Berk, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III takes to exploring the island under the cover of night. T for language.

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Chapter One

Home

I live on a tiny island called Berk. It's twelve days north of hopelessness and a few degrees south of freezing to death. It's located solidly on the Meridian of Misery. My village. In a word? Sturdy, and it's been here for seven generations, but every single building is new. We have fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunset - or, so I've heard. The only problem are the pests. You see, most places have mice or mosquitoes. We have-

"Dragons!" my father shouted, slamming the door behind him. I glanced up from the book I was (re)reading - as in, for the hundredth time or so - not particularly shocked or overly concerned. "Hiccup, I want you to-"

"Stay in the house," I recited. "Don't leave unless it catches fire or gets destroyed in some various other manner. If that happens, escape out the back door and into the forest. Don't let anyone see me; you'll come get me at our designated meeting point as soon as it's safe. I know." He nodded, eyeing the door. Stoick the Vast, a.k.a my father, was the chief of the village, and was itching to be out defending it as we spoke. But his primary concern, before he would let himself do that, was me. Or rather, making sure I stayed hidden. "I'll be fine. Go."

"Stay safe," he grunted before pulling the door open as little as possible and slipping out. I sighed, tossing my book on the floor. It wasn't particularly interesting anyway. As always, I found myself peeking out the window in the crack between the furs used to keep the sun out. The usual rule was that I avoid windows at all costs, but in the chaos outside, I doubted anyone would notice me.

There was a lot of fire. And burly Vikings running around with various assorted weapons in hand. I knew none of them. Not by name, not by face. They were all perfect strangers. Well, except for Gobber, who passed out weapons like candy. Now and then, I would see others that must have been close to my age, and I found myself wondering what their lives must have been like. Probably a lot less miserable than mine. I sighed again and let the fur blind fall closed. I dropped heavily into my father's large armchair and listened to the sounds of chaos sing around the house.

It was a house that felt more like a prison. The only time I was allowed to so much as step foot outside, save for destruction via dragon attack, was in the dead of night to use the outhouse. Sure, there had been a few times when my father took me out into the forest to fish and generally get some fresh air - a Viking's home can smell pretty funky at times - but always at night, and always with him. And of course we can't forget the few times Gobber sprung me when my father was away, but still. Night. Are you sensing a pattern?

Perhaps you are asking yourself _why_? What reason would a father have for keeping his son locked away from the rest of the village? Maybe the son is dangerous. Or ill. Or maybe the father is ashamed. Well, I'm not ill. Or dangerous. It remains to be seen whether or not my father is ashamed of me. No, the reason for my fourteen-year imprisonment is that I have a... let's call it a _skin condition_.

Now, lots of people have skin conditions. Some people have an abundance of boils. Some, flaky red patches. Others, oozing black lesions. Mine is worse than all of that... Okay, maybe it's not worse than oozing black lesions, but only barely. I was born with the majority of my body covered in black reptilian scales, much like the dragons my people dedicate their lives to killing. And if people saw me, they would kill me. Or, at least that's what my father has said. Only three people on the entire island even know I exist: my father, of course; Gobber, my father's closest friend; and the village elder, Gothi.

My home is a prison, and boredom is my closest friend. The only living thing that I see with any frequency suffers from a severe case of emotional constipation.

The sounds of the fight were getting farther away, and I thought I heard catapults being fired. Curious, I stood once more and returned to the window. My eyes scanned the night sky. The dragons were retreating. Movement caught my eye, but there was nothing there, I was sure. I stared. A rock hurtled toward empty space... And it hit something. Something that was black against the black sky. A Night Fury? Did they actually manage to hit the Night Fury, the one dragon no one had ever killed. Or seen - or, survived seeing at any rate.

It didn't matter. The fight was over. The dragons had been chased away (for now), and my father would be home soon. I returned to my book, but the words blurred together. The door opened and my father slumped in. I got him a mug of mead, asked him about the fight - no mention about a Night Fury, so maybe I had been wrong - got him dinner. He didn't bother asking me about my day. It's not like I ever did anything.

After a quick visit to the outhouse, I made my way up the stairs to my pitch black room. I wasn't allowed to have a candle up there in case someone saw the glow and got curious. I looked at the stars though my window, set up on the roof where no one would be able to look inside. Slowly, I drifted off to sleep, another meaningless day of my meaningless life gone, and another one to look forward to when I woke up again.


	2. A Touch of Daring

Chapter 2

A Touch Daring

My day started off a bit earlier than I had anticipated. And by that, I mean it was probably about five in the morning. I could hear my father's snores down stairs. The man - and pretty much every person in the village besides myself and whatever poor, unfortunate souls were on guard duty at this ungodly hour - slept well following a dragon attack. Well, they slept better than usual. Which, for the record, was typically very well.

I wasn't sure what it was that woke me. I hadn't been dreaming anything of interest, and the only sounds to be heard were the ones I was used to. It was as if someone just snapped their fingers and I was awake. I sighed and pushed myself up, knowing full well I wouldn't be able to sleep again. It was mornings like that that I hated; the ones where I was up early, and had nowhere I was able to go. There wasn't enough light to read or draw, my only two hobbies, and I wasn't allowed to light a candle. If I went downstairs to make breakfast, I would surely wake my father, and that wouldn't be fair to him, considering the long night he had.

There was a fire in my blood, but hell if I knew where it came from. The walls were too close, the air too stale. I wanted _out_. Immediately. But where did I have to go? Oh, right. Absolutely nowhere. But I didn't care. I didn't care a single bit. Somehow, I had fallen asleep in my clothes the night before, so I dug a cloak out of my clothes chest and draped it over myself carefully, covering my head and arms, just in case someone happened to catch a glimpse of me.

Thankfully, the back door made no noise when opened. I snuck quietly past my father, and he snored away, oblivious. Just standing outside loosened the tightness in my chest. I drank in the cool morning air. I was surrounded by fog and it was cool on what skin remained exposed. The grass was slick with dew as I walked aimlessly away.

This was not something I had ever done before. My heart beat a bit too quickly in my chest and I thought myself through the situation I threw myself into. If my father woke up, which I doubted he would for _at least_ another two hours, he would go up to my room to check on me and wake me up so I could make breakfast, and I would not be there. And when I got back... I didn't really want to think about that. So, I just had to get back before he woke up. I planned only to take a short walk. No problem.

The streets of Berk were unfamiliar to me. Or, rather, they were unfamiliar for me to walk. I could see most of the village out the window of my house. I strolled casually. And when I saw a figure drawing closer in the fog, my heart nearly stopped pounding in my chest. I ducked out of view next to the nearest building. I don't think the person saw me, but I could hear footsteps drawing closer. The figure came into sight.

It was a girl, close to my age I guessed, with blonde hair braided perfectly down her back. Her outfit was adorned with skulls, and she had a way of moving that was part graceful, and part lethal. She passed without so much a glancing in my direction. As soon as I was sure she was too far away to see me, I stepped back out onto the path, staring after her.

"'Ey, who goes there?" a gruff man's voice called from behind me. My stomach dropped into my boots as I was spun around. I must have looked feral, eyes wide with fear and skin covered in dragon-like scales. "Hiccup?!"

"Gobber," I sighed with relief. "Thank Thor." My legs shook.

"What the bloody hell do ye think ye'r doing out here?!" His eyes shifted around, making sure we were alone, before he began to drag me away, toward the forges. I didn't answer until we were safely inside. "Well?"

"I just... I woke up and I couldn't _breathe_" I explained. "I just needed out for a little bit. I've been in that house almost exclusively for _fourteen years_, Gob." His eyes softened a little and he put a hand - the right one, since the left one was replaced by a hook - on my shoulder.

"I ge' it. I told yer father, I tol' 'im, 'Stoick, ye can't keep the boy locked away forever. Think how ye would feel if _ye_ had ta stay in yer house yer whole life.'" He sighed, shaking his head. "But, I'm afraid i's the best we can do, Hiccup. People can't be allowed to see ye. They're Vikings; they kill first, an' ask questions late'r." I looked at my shoes.

"I know, but I can't do it anymore, Gob." I looked back out toward the street. "I'm not a piece of livestock you can keep in a pin. It's not fair."

"Fair don' mean ev'ryone ge's the same thing, Hiccup. Fair means ev'ryone ge's what they need." I looked back up at him. His eyes were still soft and gentle. "Ye have a warm bed, all the food ye could ev'r hope ta eat, and ye'r safe. Fer now, tha's got ta be enough."

"It's not." I said it so quietly, I wondered if he even heard me.

"Go home, Hiccup. An' don' worry; I won' tell Stoick." I nodded and left without a word. I had only been gone for maybe half an hour, but the fog was already beginning to lift. Getting back home was uneventful. I stepped inside, and saw my father sitting upright on his bed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. _Shit_, I thought.

"Hiccup? Is that you?" I drew in a deep breath. Lying was not my strong suit, but hopefully he was still too asleep to notice.

"Er, yeah. I was just out at the outhouse. You're up early." He made an unintelligible sound I didn't even try to decipher. "You want me to make breakfast?" There was a pause, then a grunt of affirmation. I tossed my cloak over the back of a chair and started a fire. Within just a few moments, it began to take the chill out of the air. I hadn't realized I was cold. The food was almost done when my father lumbered into the kitchen area, sinking gracelessly into his chair.

Neither of us said a word as we ate. I could feel his eyes on me, but I just stared at my plate. He always stared at me. Maybe he was just staring at the scales. Finally, he was done, and, as per the norm, he left his plate on the floor for me to clean up when I finished my food and began my chores.

"I'll be back tonight. Stay out of trouble." I made a nondescript noise, and he closed the door behind him. Alone. I was always alone.

It had been stupid, going into the village. I was lucky it was Gobber who caught me. But, it had definitely been worth it. Enough so that I would have to do it again, I knew. But, perhaps it would be wise to go wander around the woods instead. I grinned as I shoveled the last of my food into my mouth. "Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, you're going to be a free man yet... Whether your father knows it or not."


	3. Reflection

A/N: Okay, I have a confession to make; I've only seen the movie in its entirety twice. I don't own it (but, God, do I want to now), and I only saw it because it was on FX one day, and I was bored, and was promptly blown away. The reason I'm telling you this? Well, it's not like _Rise of the Guardians_, which I practically know by heart. I will try to keep it as faithful as I intended to when I started writing this (which, actually, was only because I got a plot bunny lodged in my head and it was one of the ones you need to write to get rid of, and I liked it when I started writing it), but that will probably involve much googling and Youtube, so some updates might take a while to come out. Sorry. Just bare with me, if you would. Thank you.

Please forgive any discrepancies in left vs. right; I am apparently bad at telling them apart lol. Just rest assured that I know which side Hiccup and Toothless are injured on in the movie. The right, of course! (JK, JK! Don't kill me! I swear; I'm kidding!)

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Chapter 3

Reflection

I spent the rest of my day busying myself with my chores - cleaning the dishes, washing and mending the clothes, sweeping the floor, making bread, cleaning fish for dinner, etc. etc. - with plans swirling around in my head. I would definitely need a hunting knife, just in case anything happened. Some food would be useful too, so I baked an extra loaf of bread, wrapped it in a bit of spare cloth, and hid it up in my room. Unlike most of the Vikings, I didn't need a whole lot of food; I could go a day with just a loaf of bread.

By the time my father returned that night, I had every detail planned, right down to the path I would take, step for step from the moment I left the house until I was safely in the cover of the trees. Dad sat down, and I pressed a plate full of food into his expectant hands. "Mead, boy," he barked. I stifled a sigh, muttering under my breath about how I was _not_ a housewife, and he shouldn't treat me like one. "What was that?"

"Er, nothing, Dad," I lied. He took the mug I handed him without so much as a simple 'thanks.' I tried not to let that bother me. That seemed to be a recurring theme in the home of Stoick the Vast; he treats me like a servant, and I pretend I don't care.

"Hiccup?" I looked up from my pate.

"Yeah?" He didn't speak for a long moment, and his eyes kept shifting away from mine. My own father wouldn't look me in the eyes. Was he ashamed of me, after all? _Perhaps_, I thought, _that's why he_ really _keeps me hidden_. I pushed the thought away. Dad said it was for my safety, and I believed it.

"I'm leaving tomorrow," he finally said. "We're going to make one more attempt to find the dragons' nest to end our war once and for all." And by 'we' and 'our,' of course, he meant everyone in Berk _except_ me.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I asked. He gave me a hard look. "It's almost winter," I reminded him, "and none of the other ships you've sent out have, you know, _come back_." He sighed, sinking deeper into his chair.

"Hiccup, we're vikings; death is an occupational hazard. And I've got a whole village to feed."

"Well, between you and me," I said, "the village could probably do with a little less feeding." The look he gave me was downright _frigid_.

"We won't make it through winter if those blasted dragons keep making off with our livestock." I didn't argue. His mind was made up. "Gobber will bring food for you in the night. He'll be busy in the day training the teenagers to fight dragons."

"Oh, that's great." _For them_, I added silently. If my father noticed anything wrong with my tone, he didn't say anything. "I suppose you want me to get up bright and early to make you breakfast before you go?"

"No, don't bother. I'll eat at the Mead Hall before we set off." I nodded. We ate in silence.

As soon as I was done, I stood. "Wow, it's late," I said. "I've had such a long day of... doing absolutely nothing... I think I'm gonna hit the hay." I backed slowly toward the stairs. Dad grunted. "Night." He didn't say anything as I scrambled up the stairs. I dressed in my night clothes and climbed into bed. The sky overhead was cloudy, but I guessed it would be a day or two before we would see any rain.

I couldn't sleep. Even long after my father's snores began to fill the air. I was going to leave the house in the morning. I was going to see the forest in the day, and there would be no one to stop me. There would be no one... Dad would be away, and Gobber would be busy training the other teenagers to kill dragons, and the only time Gothi ever visited was when I was ill. There would be no one to catch me.

Needless to say, that line of thought did _not_ make sleeping any easier. But, eventually I managed it, drifted away into darkness. That darkness, however, soon turned to a dream, though the dream was equally as dark, so it took me a while to notice the difference.

I was staring at myself, like a reflection. I was small and lanky, not bulky like a viking should have been. My auburn hair was long, nearly falling in my eyes, which were almost the same shade of green as the treetops I could just barely see out my window if I was in _just_ the right spot and craned my head _just_ the right way. Then there were the scales. My curse. About three fourths of my face was covered with the black patches. The skin around my left eye, however, was clear and pale-ish tan, several shades lighter than my fathers from lack of sunlight.

Never in my life had I hated my reflection more. I swung a fist through the image and it rippled and blurred as if I had struck water. Then it drained away, and I was alone again. What else was new? That was, after all, the story of my life. 'Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III was born a freak with scales, so his father hid him away from the world and he was alone. The end.'


	4. The Cove

Hey, guys, sorry this took so long to get posted. I wrote chapter 3, then the new episodes of _Legend of Korra_ came on so I had to stop and watch them, then I stared outlining the chapters for this story (which I got done), and then it was late and I felt like I had done enough writing for the day. Sorry I left you with such a boring and mundane chapter, though I do feel like it began to set up some pretty important things, so it's not all bad. You should know that I am a horrible updater. Very much infrequent. Please just bare with me. I kinda go by the motto 'it's better late when it's done well than on time when it's crap.'

Anyway, here, have a chapter (sorry it's a bit short)! Thanks for all the positive feedback! I really appreciate it and I'm glad you're enjoying the story. Later.

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Chapter 4

The Cove

As was expected, Dad was already gone when I got up the next morning. I dressed in a light green tunic, a brown fur vest, brown leggings, a thick brown belt, and my usual boots. My cloak was still downstairs. I grabbed my loaf of bread from under my bed before I headed for the stairs. It was dim, the only light coming from the cracks in the boards. I ate breakfast without tasting it. After rummaging around for a hunting knife, I tucked it under my belt and practically ran to the back door, throwing my cloak over myself quickly.

It was bright outside and I had to squint my eyes until they adjusted. The edge of the forest wasn't far. If I was right in my planned escape route, the chances of anyone seeing me were slim. I drew in a deep breath, puffing my chest out as far as it would go, stepped out onto the sunlit grass, pulled the door closed behind me, and ran. I ran without looking back. My cloak swished around my ankles.

Now, being what basically equated to a hermit for fourteen years, running was not something I did often. And I was pretty bad at it, apparently. I tripped and stumbled my way along the path I had set up in my mind until I finally crashed my way into the forest... and my foot promptly caught on the nearest exposed tree root, sending me tumbling - quite painfully - to the ground. I rolled on to my back and stared up at the canopy above me, marveling at the way the light played through the leaves.

I had actually done it. I, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, had escaped my life-long confinement and made it outside. In the day. The thought sent a bubble of laughter up through my lips as I sat up, brushing leaves and grass off of my back and pulling the cloak off with a swish. A light breeze ruffled my hair, and I could hear birds. Everything smelled earthy and green. I felt... alive.

And I had no idea what to actually _do_ with my new-found freedom. I wandered around the woods aimlessly, careful to keep a mental note of where I had come from so I wouldn't find myself completely lost, and drank in the details of the day-lit forest. Even though I was bitten by more bugs than I could ever care to count, I was falling in love with everything from the rustle of leaves over my head to the way the sunlight dappled the ground under my feet. I don't remember exactly what I had been thinking of as I walked, but I know I smiled a lot.

As I walked, I was shocked to see signs of destruction. Uprooted trees, branches ripped off their trunks. There was even a gouge in the land, the soil freshly churned and soft. It almost looked like a scar in the earth. I followed the wreckage with burning curiosity.

And then I was looking down at an amazing, beautiful cove. It was surrounded on all sides by a rock wall. The ground was covered in emerald grass that looked so soft, and the water was blue and sparkly in the sun. I began to scramble down the walls, slipping over the rocks. Pebbles scraped the palms of my hands, but I ignored them.

I saw fish swimming around in the water as I cupped my hands in it and took a drink. It was cool and fresh, better than the stale water stored in barrels in my house. I drank more, then laid back on the grass. The sunlight played on my closed eyelids.

I think I was almost asleep when I heard it. A low growl. My eyes snapped open and I sat up slowly and rose to my knees, scanning the cove.

My heard just about stopped. It was right behind me; I could feel its breath on the back of my neck. I turned, almost like I was caught in slow motion, barely daring to breathe. It continued to growl.

And I saw it, falling back on my butt and pushing myself backwards with my feet. I was going to die, and there was only one thing I was capable of saying.

"Night Fury..."


	5. Night Fury

Chapter 5

Night Fury

Night Furies. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. The one dragon no one had ever survived seeing. And I was staring it right in the eyes. "Oh," I stammered weakly, heard pounding painfully in my chest. "Oh, I'm dead. I am dead. I'mdeadI'mdeadI'mgonnadieI'mdead..." The dragon was crouched low to the ground, baring its teeth at me as a low growl came from deep in its throat.

It was stalking closer and I was frozen in fear. Our faces were no more than a foot away. I stared unblinkingly through wide eyes. It stopped growling, cocking its head to the side. It was almost as if it was studying me. It moved closer slowly. I cringed a little, snapping my eyes shut. I didn't want to see my death coming. It's breath tickled my cheek.

I peeled an eye open and... the dragon was smelling me? "Um... are you going to eat me?" It reeled back a little. Its eyes were big and wide and round. It still watched me warily. I returned the favor. "What are you staring at?" The dragon simply cocked its head again. "It's the scales, isn't it?"

It made a sound that I took as a yes. I looked closely at it. It's scales were shiny and black. I laughed despite myself. The dragon's ears perked a little. "Nothing," I said. "I just noticed; we match." If I didn't know any better, I would have said it laughed too, but that was insane.

So I sat there, staring death in the face. With its bright eyes and curious expression, it was almost... cute. I shook my head slightly. The Night Fury copied my movement. I laughed again.

"What are you doing here?" I asked the dragon. "Why don't you fly away?" The look it gave me... I think I upset the thing.

Then it was barreling toward me. I shrieked, pressing myself flat against the ground. The dragon spread its wings to fly. I spun around to watch it go. Until it crashed into the rocky wall and fell back into the cove. I stood slowly, taking small, measured steps toward the fallen dragon. It spun around miserably, ears drooped, and I saw it's tail.

The left tailfin was gone, ripped away. I had been right. One of the catapults hit something during the raid. Someone downed a Night Fury.

The Night Fury walked back to the pond, staring at the water intently. In a flash, one of its clawed feet tore through the surface, splashing me. It laid its head down and I watched a fish swim by.

"You must be starving," I said, unwrapping my loaf of bread. Its head perked up and it tiptoed back toward me, eyes fixed on the food in my hand. I tore the loaf in half and tossed one side toward the dragon. It was gone a second later. I bit into my own loaf without tasting it. The Night Fury was a big dragon. Half a loaf of bread wasn't nearly enough for it to survive on. With a sigh, I ripped my half again, and threw another piece to the dragon. It ate it happily. "That's all you get," I told it, taking a great chunk of what was left and chewing it with a bit of effort. My bread had been decimated.

"You're probably still pretty hungry..." It almost looked like it nodded. "How about this; I'll come back tomorrow, and I'll bring you some more food." Its ears perked up. "I promise. I'll come back." And I ran away, scrabbling and clawing my way up the rock wall. I jogged through the forest automatically, letting my feet do all the work while my brain churned out thought after thought. Did I _really_ just promise a dragon I would return to see it, and bring it food?

"Oh, why couldn't the stupid thing have just eaten me and been done with it?" I sighed, pushing the door closed behind me. "And why didn't I just kill it like a normal Viking. Oh, that's right." _I'm not a normal Viking; I'm not even a Viking_.

"This is bad," I decided, pacing. "This is very, very bad. This is beyond bad." I flopped down in Dad's chair, letting my eyes slip closed. The next thing I knew, I heard the back door close and my eyes snapped open. My legs were hanging over the edge of the chair. I didn't breathe.

"Hiccup?" Gobber called, and I sighed in relief. I could hear his peg leg clack against the wooden floor. I sat up and peeked over the back of the chair. He was carrying a bucket, and I realized it was full of fish. "Don' tell me ye've been sleepin' all day!" He boomed, laughter nearly loud enough to rattle the windows.

"Not all day," I told him, though I was aware that it was now very dark outside. Gobber, without being asked, put the bucket of fish in the cold storage chest and made himself at home in the free chair. "Thanks."

"How ya holdin' up, son?"

"Well enough." He nodded. "Can I ask you something?"

"Aye?"

"What do you know about Night Furies?" I asked. He looked at me levelly. Unlike my father, he actually held my eyes.

"Why do ye wan' ta know?" I shrugged.

"Curious." If he didn't believe me, he didn't show it.

"The truth is, we don' know anythin' abou' the Night Fury." I sat up a little straighter. "It's the unholy offspring o' lightnin' and death it'self. Ta see one is ta die. Yer only chance is ta hide an' hope it does na' find ya. Because a Night Fury will always, _always_ go fer the kill." I swallowed quite audibly.

"Good to know."


	6. Two-Way Street

A/N: Sorry it's been a couple days. I've been a lazy girl :) I finally convinced one of my friends to go see Dragons 2 with me, so hopefully she will be able to borrow one of her parents' cars and we can go Sunday.

So, we're getting into a bit of the story that is remarkably similar to (see: pretty much the same as) the movie. I will try to keep it interesting, but there's only so much that can be done. Regardless, enjoy!

Chapter 6

Two-Way Street

_A Night Fury will always, _always _go for the kill._ That was the thought swimming through my head as I made back toward the cove where I found the dragon. I made a promise, after all. The Night Fury sat by the water, presumably staring at a fish it wished it could catch. I smiled a little as I climbed down the rocks.

The dragon's ears perked and its back stiffened – I wasn't being particularly quiet – and it spun around, defensive. It relaxed a little when it saw it was me. "Hey... dragon," I said, "I brought you something." It cocked its head and I pulled the fish out from behind my back. It inched closer, eyes hungry. I went to offer it the fish, and it reeled back, growling. I looked down, and saw the gleam of my hunting knife tucked under my belt. I moved to pull it out, earning yet another growl. When the knife hit the ground, the dragon motioned for me to kick it away. I did, and a splash told me it landed in the water. The dragon seemed happy enough.

When it was just a few inches away, I noticed something. "Huh. Toothless. I could have sworn you had-" The dragon nearly tore my hand off with it razor sharp "teeth..." When the fish was gone, it returned its attention to me, bounding toward me. I backed up, and it followed, smelling me. I was against a rock.

"No! No, no! I- I don't have anymore!" It backed up and began making an odd sound. A slimy fish tail landed on my lap. It sat up on its back legs looking quite pleased with itself. I picked up the fish and sat there, unsure what I was supposed to do. The dragon held my gaze. When it motioned down the fish, I understood. I sighed, looking down at the slimy fish.

Before I could change my mind, I took a bite of the fish. And I wanted to puke. "Mmm!" I forced myself to smile at the dragon. It made a loud gulping sound. _Is this my punishment for defying my father_? I wondered, and forced the fish down my throat. I had never wanted to puke so much. A shudder racked my body.

The dragon looked pleased. I smiled up at it. Its lips curled up, to show its toothless gums. It was a smile, I realized, but it was actually pretty terrifying. I stood slowly, moving toward the dragon. Its eyes narrowed when I stretched my hand out toward it and it bolted away. I sighed.

I don't know when exactly it happened, but some time over the rest of the day, I began to call the dragon Toothless in my thoughts. It was fitting, and I liked it.

After getting growled at menacingly for about the dozenth time, I sighed in frustration, plopping down on the ground. "Look, I know you don't trust me," I said, getting Toothless's attention. "I suppose you don't really have very much of a reason to, do you? But that goes both ways, you know." There was a long silence. "I don't want to hurt me, and I'm going to guess that if you really wanted to hurt me, you would have already." He didn't disagree. "Let's make a deal. If you promise not to hurt me, I'll promise not to hurt you." I didn't mention that the possibility of me hurting him was pretty low anyway, as I had never been trained to do anything of the sort.

Toothless made a noise that sounded an awful lot like an agreement. "I'll take it," I decided. "Alright, bud, we have a deal."


	7. Tails and Tales

A/N: An update? What? Wow, it's been a while, hasn't it? A week, I think. Sorry about that. I would like to say that I had a reason, but until the last couple of days, I have no excuses. I've just been lazy. My friend, who I was supposed to go see HTTYD 2 with me on Sunday, had to cancel because she had family from out of state coming up for Fourth of July and wasn't allowed to borrow the car (so, no, I still haven't seen it... many sad faces). And because I no longer had plans, my dad made my mom and I drive up to the lake on Saturday, where there was no internet. We got back Sunday morning and I slept for a long, long time and then spent the rest of the day finishing Dragons season 2. I think I tried to update on the 3rd, but it's been storming like crazy, and I kept losing internet connection, and after losing the chapter I wrote, I got discouraged and decided to leave that for another day. Anyway. It's here now... And it is also raining again, but here's to hoping the internet stays on this time. :)

* * *

Chapter 7

Tails and Tales

After a couple days spending time with Toothless, I began to bring my journal with me to the cove. Having nothing but time to kill, there are certain things you do to occupy your time and mind, and you tend to get good at those things after a while. Drawing is one of those things. I had pages upon pages filled with sketches of anything and everything I could think to draw. My father, myself, myself without scales, my father with scales (he hasn't seen that one, for obvious reasons), just about everything in our house, Gobber, Gothi, things I've seen through the window or on the way to the outhouse.

I especially liked to draw dragons. So, it was natural that I began to draw Toothless too. I drew what he would have looked like, if he hadn't been missing a tailfin. Eventually, I started drawing theoretical designs for an artificial tailfin. There were plenty of Vikings who had prosthetic limbs. Gobber, for example, had a peg leg and hook hand that could actually be changed into a variety of things. Who said a dragon couldn't be given a replacement tail?

Obviously, no one had ever tried to replace any part of a dragon they had managed to tear off. The point was generally to kill them when they were weakened, not fix them. But I wasn't a Viking, and Toothless wasn't like other dragons. I could do it, if I had the right materials. If I had the ability to make the parts I would need.

~OoO~

"Ye sure are goin' through this fish like i's goin' out o' style," Gobber laughed, placing a new bucket in the cold storage and pulling the empty one out. The truth was, though I wasn't about to tell Gobber, I had hardly eaten any of it myself. As it turned out, dragons needed a lot of food.

"Yeah," I agreed weakly, "I- I, uh, eat when I'm bored. You know how it is." He gave me a look that said, 'yeah, I'm sure that's what it is,' but didn't question my obvious lie.

"Right. Well, do ye need anythin'?" I bit my lip, building up the courage to ask.

"Can I please, _please_ come to the forge and make something?!" His eyes widened a little. "I have all the plans I need drawn up, and I remember everything you taught me. It hasn't been that long, after all. I just really need to do _something_. Please?"

Gobber sighed. "I dunno, Hiccup. If someone saw you... If Stoick found out-" He shuddered a little.

"No one will see me; I'll be really careful. I can come in the middle of the night, and you can tell everyone that you're doing something and you need privacy and to stay away from the forge." The look in my eyes must have been pretty desperate. "Please, Gob."

"Okay." I could see the internal war in his eyes as he caved. "Okay. I'll come get ye tomorrow night."

"Thank you, Gob!" I hugged him around the middle. I couldn't see the smile on his face, but I knew it was there. He patted me on the back, pushing me off gentle.

"Get some sleep, Hiccup." He headed for the door. "And lay off the fish a bit, er ye'll wake up one day an' weigh as much as yer father."

"I don't think there's enough fish on Berk for that to happen." Gobber laughed. "Night, Gob."

"G'night, Hiccup."

~OoO~

The next day, I left the house in a rush and forgot my journal. I started scratching sketches in the dirt with a stick, talking to Toothless, who sat watching me draw. "Okay, so my room in my house is upstairs, right? Well, the stairs are really tall, and kinda steep. When I was little, like two-years-old, I couldn't walk up and down them by myself. Well, one night, I was _really _thirsty, but I knew Dad would get mad if I woke him up – not sure how I would have managed to do that anyway with as loud as that man snores.

"Anyway, being a toddler, I decided that I could walk down the stairs and get some water on my own. You know, 'cause I was a 'big boy' and all. Well, each of the stairs was about as tall as my leg was long. I made it down, I think, three stairs before I fell. Scared Dad half to death. And that's how I got this." I pointed to the little scar on my chin. Toothless looked at it closely, squinting a little.

And he rolled his eyes. "Oh, don't give me that," I said indignantly. "Like you never did anything stupid when you were a baby." He made a noise to agree with that statement that he, in fact, had never done a stupid thing in his life. "Yeah, right. Mmm-hmm." He walked away, looking a bit superior. "Yeah, walk away, you arrogant, over-grown lizard." He slapped me on the side of my head with his tail.

I returned to scribbling in the dirt. Soon enough, he creeped back, watching again. We both realized at the same moment that I had drawn his likeness. I smiled, looking over at him, but he had already turned and was running in the opposite direction. Then he ripped a little tree out of the ground.

I watched curiously as he began dragging the tree through the dirt, drawing the way I had. The leaves and little branches smacked me on the head more than once, and I wondered if the dragon was doing it on purpose or not. When the drawing was done, Toothless dropped the branch and sat back, very clearly pleased with himself. I stood, looking at the picture. It was hard to tell, with it being so large, but I was pretty sure it was meant to be a picture of me. I took a step forward.

Toothless growled, eyes narrowing. I looked down. My foot was on one of the lines. I picked it up a little, and Toothless seemed happy. Step, growl, move, happy, step, growl... rinse, repeat. I instead stepped over the line and was soon spinning and stepping carefully over the dragon's lines. Then my back bumped into Toothless's front. I spun around when I felt his breath on my neck.

He didn't seem like he was going to eat me. Biting my lip, I held out my hand to touch him. He reeled back, growling. I was beginning to wonder if Toothless might have been a bit bipolar.

I drew in a deep breath and closed my eyes, turning my head away, and held out my hand once more. It struck me as a distinct possibility that I could have left the clearing that day with one less limb than I entered with.

Then I felt his smooth scales pressed against my palm lightly. He rubbed his nose against my hand, eyes closed. I smiled.

And he ran away. Again.

Some things never change.

~OoO~

As I worked in the forge that night, my mind reeled with everything that happened in the cove with Toothless. I touched him. A dragon. A dragon let me, a Viking, pet him on the nose. My best friend is a dragon. My father judged me because I had the scales of a dragon. I wonder if dragons would judge me for the exact opposite reasons. Because I had the skin of a Viking. That didn't seem to bother Toothless.

When the tail was done, early into the morning, I found Gobber asleep when he had been 'keeping watch.' I woke him gently, telling him I would be heading home. He asked to see what I had made, but I was adamant about not showing him. Finally, he let me leave.

That was phase one complete. Phase two would require fish, and lots of them.

~OoO~

P.O.V.

?

It was foggy as I headed toward the arena. I could hear the others behind me, but I had no inclination to join them. I was passing the docks when I saw it. A dark figure lurking in the fog. I held my axe tight. The figure was small, not like the usual Berkian I was so accustomed to seeing. They carried something large, like one of the baskets fresh fish were kept in. Was the person stealing fish?

I wanted to go to them, ask them what they were up to, but the others called out to me, loud, and the figure saw me. We stared at each other for a long moment, the others still shouting for me. The figure, I could now tell, was cloaked. And it ran, disappearing into the fog. I sighed, and rejoined the others.

~OoO~

P.O.V.

Hiccup

"Astrid, come on!" a male voice called. I spun around, and there she was. The girl for the first day I snuck out of the house. She was staring at me. "Come on! We're gonna be late! Astrid!" She cocked her head to the side, moving as if to step forward. I spun around and ran, heart racing wildly.

Astrid. That was her name. Astrid.

I could see it on her face; she knew I wasn't someone she knew. And she knew someone was stealing fish. "Oh, this could be bad," I sighed to myself as I slipped into the forest. "This could be very, very bad."


	8. Flight

A/N: Good God, I never realized how much Hiccup repeated himself until I wrote this. Most of the dialogue, and, you know, mostly everything else, is kinda pulled straight from the movie. Sorry about that. But, you'll _love _the ending! :D Just curious, does anyone _actually _believe that if someone says it? Anyway, to my American friends (do you realize, the US has set up a system in which the only way we can identify ourselves - think, in the vein of the words French or German or Canadian - is to call ourselves American, even though the term can be applied to anyone in North America? Or South America.) happy belated Fourth of July! To everyone else... Happy day to-be-a-person-who-reads-fanfiction! :) This is your present to make up for a week's worth of not posting anything! Bonus chapter!

* * *

Chapter 8

Flight

Toothless was extremely curious when I tipped the basket over. "Hope you're hungry." It must have been like Snoggletog came early when he saw the mound of fish I presented to him. "Okay, that's disgusting... Uh, I got some salmon, some nice Icelandic cod, and a whole smoked eel!" Toothless growled at the pile of fish, stepping back.

I picked up the eel. He stood on his back legs, cringing away from the slimy black and yellow eel. I didn't know what he would do, but I didn't give him the chance. "No, no, no, no!" I tossed it away. "Okay!" He calmed down, and I wiped my hand off on my vest. "Yeah, I don't like eel that much either." He returned to nosing through the pile. Thankfully, there was only one eel. He must have decided it was safe because he promptly dug in.

I started moving slowly toward his tail. "That's it," I encouraged. "Don't you mind me; I'll just be back here minding my own business." I sat my creation down next to his tail, watching him carefully. He was really tearing through that pile of fish.

His tail kept moving as I tried to get the artificial tailfin close enough to it to strap on. "It's okay," I told him, grabbing on to his tail. Gods, he was strong, pulling me back and forth as he moved his tail. The fish was gone and, in a last-ditch effort, I straddled his tail and started strapping on his prosthetic.

His right tailfin flexed as I worked, but I thought nothing of it. "Good," I said as I pulled the strap tight and fanning out the fake. "Okay. Doesn't look too bad. If it works..."

Then the ground was five feet away. And it wasn't getting _any_ closer. "Woah!" I held on to the dragon's tail for dear life. The tailfin had folded back closed, and we were heading toaward the rock wall. Panicking, I fumbled to pull it open once more. The ground was a lot closer than I wanted it to be.

Then we were heading back up. "Oh my, G- It's working!" Toothless banked right and dived back toward the cove. We flew over the pond and I saw myself reflected as we glided. "Yes! Yes, I did it!" My victory was short-lived because Toothless turned suddenly and I lost my grip on his tail. I skipped across the surface of the water like a smooth stone once before landing with a great splash.

I surfaced just in time to see Toothless hit the water.

It worked... It worked! It worked it worked it worked! My mind was swimming as I sloshed my way out of the water. Toothless wasn't very happy with me, but _it worked_! Sure, it had a couple of bugs that would need to be worked out, but when I did...

Even I didn't know what would happen if I could make a downed dragon fly again.

~OoO~

A saddle, I realized that night, was the answer I was looking for. A saddle. I could attach the prosthetic tail to a saddle, have a peddle with rope that connected to the tail. Move foot forward, tail opens. Move foot back, tail closes. If I could study the way the tail moves when Toothless turns and backs and everything, I could learn how to move the peddle to match. And we could fly.

Drawing up the plans for the saddle was no problem. I could convince Gobber to let me use the forge again, maybe give me some spare leather. We were going to fly, I promised Toothless.

I learned a lot about dragons as I worked with Toothless. For one, they aren't used to saddles. That, of course, was to be expected. I finally got it on him without so much as a scratch, too!

Dragons are completely enthralled by shiny things. Toothless chased the reflection of my hammer for nearly half an hour on one particularly sunny day.

Dragons go completely crazy for certain types of grass. We were practicing flying; I had Toothless tied to a stake in the ground and we glided in the wind. A strong wind made the rope break and we landed in a patch of tall grass. He would have rolled around in it all day if I hadn't practically drug him away.

Dragons love being scratched. After he got over the whole, I don't want to touch you thing, Toothless started letting me pet him a bit, and he loved it when I scratched behind his ears. There's even one spot on his neck that made him turn to complete jelly when scratched.

~OoO~

Finally, I was sure I had all the kinks worked out. I had a chart drawn of what foot positions move the tail in which way. The moment of truth was upon us. I was going to fly a dragon.

We were in the air. And we were flying. It was a bit unsteady. "Okay there, bud. We're gonna take this _nice _and slow." I patted Toothless reassuringly and began going over my foot chart one last time. "Here we go. Here we go. Position... three. No, four!" Drawing in a breath, I opened the tailfin. I looked between the dragon's massive wings and the tail I created as we glided smoothly through the sky.

"Alright. It's go time. It's go time." Toothless began to fly faster. And we dived downward, toward the ocean. It was so big and blue, and it was almost like I was seeing it for the first time (well, I actually kind of was...). We were just over the surface of the water. "Come on, buddy! Come on, buddy!" We were nearing the sea stacks. Seeing the birds when we flew under an arch, something no Berkian had ever seen before... it made my chest tighten.

"Yes! It worked!" My heart was pounding quickly, and a smile grew in my face. I could taste... freedom. And it was was delicious. Toothless poured on the speed.

Until I made him hit a sea stack when I fumbled with the foot peddle. "Sorry!" He huffed indignantly. We hit another, and he growled. "That was my fault!" He fwacked me with his ear. I knew what he was trying to tell me. 'You gotta get those foot control down, or you'll kill us both!'

"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it. Position four, er, three." I realized I wasn't entirely sure anymore. I pulled up, and Toothless, with a small growl, started climbing higher in the sky. "Yeah! Go, baby!" We were closing in on the clouds. "Yes! Oh, this is amazing! The wind in my-" Said wind tore the paper out of my hand. "My cheat sheet! Stop!" I snatched it out of the air.

Toothless stopped. I, being much lighter, kept going up a couple more feet, lifting off of his saddle. The cord that kept me attached to the saddle came undone, and we were falling. "No!" Toothless shrieked in fear as we started plummeting back toward the ocean.

"Oh, gosh! Oh, gods! Oh, no!" We both clawed the air in vein. Neither of us could fly without the other. I needed to think. "Alright, okay, you gotta kinda angle yourself!" I called out to Toothless. He was flapping madly, pulling away from me. "Okay, no, no, no! Come back down towards me! Come back down-" His tail slapped me in the face and I cried out in pain.

He spun underneath me. I stuffed my cheat sheet in my mouth and reached for his saddle, fingers closing around air several times before I finally caught hold. I pulled myself back into place and hooked my cord back on with some effort.

We were plummeting towards the forest. I pulled back on the harness and Toothless's wings opened like sails, slowing our fall. But we weren't slowing down enough. I ripped the cheat sheet from between my teeth, desperate to find the right position, but the wind blowing on it made it impossible to read.

I tossed it away as we raced toward an outcropping of rock. Toothless growled, realizing that we were staring at death. I pushed the peddle back and we missed the rock. But we weren't out of the woods yet... okay, we were out of the _literal_ woods, but we had entered a forest of stone jutting out of the water.

I trusted my gut, moving the peddle like I had been doing it forever. We banked around rock after rock, turning and swerving and spinning just in time to miss every single one.

It took me a breathless moment to realize we had come out the other side unscratched. I threw my hands in the air. "Yeah!" Toothless sent out a plasma blast in celebration. My hands fell back down, smile melting away, when I realized what he meant to do. "Come on!" I cried.

He flew us through the fireball.

~OoO~

I cleaned the smoke off of myself at the cove and returned home that evening. Toothless was asleep before I left, saddle still in place. I decided it would be easier to just leave it with him. It wasn't like he could fly without me, anyway.

I was bone tired and ready to hit the hay when I pushed the door open. And all of that flew right out the window when I met my father's enraged eyes. Gobber stood behind him, a parade of emotion marching across his face, none of them particularly good.

"Hey... Dad!" I said slowly. "Kill any dragons while you were away? I know _I _didn't." If looks could kill, I would have been a dead man ten times over.


	9. The Truth

A/N: Okay, I am intentionally going to beat around the bush in this chapter a bit, when Stoick is explaining things. And, yes, I realize how OOC this is, but people under pressure snap. Fact of life, my friends.

* * *

Chapter 9

The Truth

It was entirely too silent. I looked between the floor, and the two men before me. Dad stared – or, rather, _glared_ – at me, and Gobber looked between the two of us. The tension in the air was palpable. Finally, Gob broke the silence.

"Hiccup, why don' ye go upstairs an' give yer father a momen' ta calm down." I liked that plan. I all but ran toward the stairs, even when my feet were dangling off the ground. My father was holding me by the back of my shirt.

"I appricate you're help, Gobber, but I need to have a talk with my son." My father has several levels of anger. There was mild annoyance, in which you could hear him biting back his emotions, and usually involved a lot sighing and hand clenching. Then there was mad. That one had lectures and a disapproving scowl attached. Next was _really _mad, and included a lot of shouting. Infuriated usually meant you should get out of dodge quickly, and let him take his anger out on something else.

Then there was the calm before the storm. It was the worst of all, because he didn't _sound _mad, and he if you didn't know better, you might think he was only mildly annoyed. Well, before he let lose the wrath of the gods. I had only seen it a handful of times before.

This was the calm before the storm. I knew it, and Gobber knew it.

Gobber promptly snatched me away from my father, still holding me by my shirt collar. "Stoick, we've talked abou' this. Just let him go up ta his room, give yerself some time to breathe, _then _ye can talk ta him." Dad grabbed me back, painfully pulling at skin this time. I didn't know if he knew it or not. I gasped, but they didn't seem to hear it.

"I don't need to _breathe_, Gobber." We decided against reminding him that he did, in fact, need to breathe. "He's my son. It's none of your concern how I talk to him." I honestly doubted there would be much 'talking.' We were all perfectly aware that he would be yelling, and I would be trying not to spontaneously combust.

Gobber snatched me back, whipping my head to the side. I cried out a little. "Okay, okay!" They both turned their attention back on me. I was struggling to free myself from Gobber's grip. "I'm not a doll you can fight over, and if you keep trying, you're going to break my neck!" Gobber sat me back down on my feet. I rubbed my neck.

"Go upstairs, Hiccup," Gobber told me. I did before my father could stop me. For the next hour or so, I heard the sounds of a muffled argument. I caught only bits and pieces. "Reckless and stupid... going to get himself killed... against my direct orders..." "Just a kid... here for his whole life... no harm done..." "Doesn't think... selfish... like his mother..." My heart caught in my chest. I strained to hear more, but it sounded like they were done. I heard the door close, and guessed that was Gobber leaving.

It would only be a matter of ti-

"Hiccup!" Right on schedule. "Get down here." I took a deep breath and walked down the stairs. Dad was in his chair at the table. "Sit down." I did. He didn't speak. It took me a moment, but I realized something; for what I was sure was the first time in my life, my father was looking me in the eyes.

And it was absolutely _terrifying_.

"Are- are you going to _say_ some thing?" I asked, biting my lip. My hand clenched and unclenched around my knee, and the dull pain kept me focused and not jittery.

Dad sighed. "Earlier, I would have had many, many things I would have said. But Gobber made me realize something."

"He did?"

"He made me realize that... you're a child, not a pet. I can't keep you locked up if you really want to go. And it was wrong of me to try." I could see defeat written in every weary line on his face.

"Well, you _could_," I said. "If you really _wanted _to. I mean, look at me, and then look at you." He didn't reprimand me for the crack about his weight. He just sighed, let his eyes fall closed, and turned his head. And I realized that some sick, masochistic part of me _wanted _him to yell at me. Because I wanted to yell at him. After so many years of taking his anger and returning none of it, I was ready to throw it all back at him, tell him the words I had been dying to make him hear my whole life. _And he wouldn't let me._

"Well," he said, "I won't." His eyes flashed open. "Just, tell me one thing; did anyone see you?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Are you absolutely _positive_ that _no one_ saw you?" I thought of Astrid, but that's not what he meant. He meant the scales. All she saw was a hooded figure stealing fish... I hoped.

"Yes, Dad, I am really, very _extra-sure_ that _no one_ saw me." His eyes betrayed his doubt. "Unless you think the forest animals are going to rat me out." He hissed out a sigh. If there was one thing he hated, it was snark.

I was trying to pick a fight, I realized, but he wasn't taking the bait. But I knew the chinks in his armor.

"What did you mean when you told Gobber I'm like Mom?" If pure, unadulterated shock had a face, it would have been my father's in that moment.

"You heard that?" I nodded. A dozen different emotions flicked across his eyes in the seconds that followed. They settled on dark and brooding. "It doesn't matter." I set my jaw in a hard line, slamming my hands down on the table.

"It does to me," I growled. "I'm not a child anymore. I deserve to know the truth." His hands slammed down on the table across from mine, rattling the wood in a way mine had been unable to.

"You _deserve _nothing!" I wondered if that was merely an unfortunate combination of words, or if he truly felt that way.

"You've kept me a prisoner in my own home my whole life. Until today, _you wouldn't even look me in the eyes_!" He opened his mouth to speak. "Don't _even _try to tell me different. You say that everything you've done was to protect me." I realized I was on my feet, but the gods only know when _that _happened. "But admit it; it's not about that, is it? It never has been. You're ashamed of me. You're ashamed that your son looks like a monster, and you wouldn't be able to face the village if they knew!" I was yelling.

Dad was on his feet too, face very close to mine. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

"_Then tell me the truth_," I spat with as much venom as I could muster. Dad shoved away from the table, nearly knocking over his chair. I watched him as he pulled something out from under his bed. He placed it in front of me. It was a book. There was a thin layer of dust over it. I brushed it off. It took me a moment to realize what it was. "The Book of Dragons?"

Dad nodded, pulling the leather cover open. He had never let me read it, and never explained why. "Because I said so," was all the reason he thought he needed. I watched him flip to a dog-eared page, and he spun it around for me to read.

"'Children of the Dragon's Curse?'" I read. I had never heard of such a thing. There were pictures of children of varying ages, and they had patches of skin blackened out. Unconsciously, I touched a hand to my cheek. _Is that what I am_?

"Well, read it," Dad prompted. I swallowed the lump in my throat and read aloud.

"'Legend tells of a man whose name has been lost by time. He was a warrior and fought by his brethren valiantly. Until the day of a devastating dragon raid. A dragon had been downed, and as the warriors closed it to finish it off, the man turned his arms against his own and set the monster free. The dragon he released took no less than ten lives before it could be stopped. The man was locked away, and when they returned to his cell the next morning, his skin was covered in dragon's scales, as a punishment by the gods for his crime. Since that day, children have been born, rare though it may be, who bare the same marks.

"'Few are born with only small patches of the scales, and they may lead perfectly normal lives, though should remain under vigilant watch. Those born with much of their body covered in scales, however, are to be considered dangerous when they are grown, and it is advised that the parents...'" I paused in my reading, double checking to be sure the words said what I thought they said. "'It is advised that the parents _put them down_ as humanely as possible as soon after birth as they can, before the parents have the time to get attached and put the village in harm's way.'"

My veins were full of ice.

"Do you see now?" Dad asked, pulling the book away from me. "Do you understand now?" I shook my head slowly, sinking back into my seat.

"The book said to kill me." I looked up at him. "The book said to kill me. You're so sure that anyone else would have. If the book said to, and anyone else would have... _why didn't you_?" He sat down too, eyes unreadable. My hands shook. "Why didn't you?"

"You want to know?" I nodded.

"Please. The truth." He stroked his beard, eyes not leaving mine.

"The truth? The truth is, I wanted to. I wanted to kill you." My back straightened. I was determined to reveal nothing in my eyes.

"Then why didn't you?" He sighed, rubbing his large hand across his forehead. "Why didn't you kill me, if you really wanted to?"

"It was your mother's last request for me, the last thing she ever asked of me... the last time I ever saw her." That was not the answer I had been expecting. Honestly, I don't even know what answer I had been expecting. "You were born, and I knew she was going to be gone before day broke, leaving you and I alone... And she knew I was going to kill you. So she asked me for one last thing. 'Please, Stoick,' she said, 'spare his life.'

"I tried to tell her I couldn't, but she just smiled and said, 'I have scales too; would you kill me?'"

"Mom... mom had scales?!" His eyes, which had been a million miles away, snapped back into focus.

"Aye, but just a small patch on the back of her shoulder, no bigger than the palm of your hand." I looked at my hand. "She covered them up. The first time she ever told me, or anyone who wasn't her family, was when I asked her to marry me."

"And it didn't bother you?"

"I loved her." It was hard to breathe with those words hanging in the air like Zippleback gas. "When she was gone, I held you in my arms, bundled tight. And I took you into the forest. Gobber tried to talk me out of it, but I wouldn't listen. He let me go in the end, said it was my decision; I was the one who would have to live with it. I took you to the river, knelt down next to it."

"You were going to drown me?"

He nodded. "It was the cleanest way." My father sat there, discussing with me the details of how he was prepared to murder me as an infant, and he was so ungodly _calm_. It wasn't natural; it was actually pretty disturbed.

"There I was, ready to... to do it, and then you opened your eyes, and you looked up at me. Even then, you just seemed so _curious_. And I heard her voice. I couldn't do it. So I honored her last wish, and I let you live."

"Sure, if you have a _very_ literal definition of 'live.'"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I rolled my eyes.

"Just because I'm alive doesn't mean I've done much living." He sighed again.

"Don't you understand yet?" I flinched at his sudden outburst. "I might have spared your life for your mother, everything else I've done has been for you. I _do_ love you, Hiccup. _Never_ doubt that." For some reason, I didn't.

An unsettling thought came to mind. "If your plan was to hide me forever, what am I supposed to do when you die?" He stared at me for a long moment. Honestly, I think we were both just surprised I had never thought to ask that question before.

"I've thought about that," he told me. "When the time comes, I'll make sure you have everything you need to do what you need to do."

"What exactly do I need to do what?" I dared to ask.

"Leave. When I die, you will leave Berk, and you will never come back."

Perhaps that wasn't _supposed_ to sound as harsh as it did. But it did. And he knew it.

* * *

A/N: Wow, this one kind of ran away from me. It's _so _long! I would have stopped it at 'I wanted to kill you' where it was 1700 words, but the stuff after that wasn't enough to warrant its own chapter. So, instead, you get a 2400 word chapter. And sorry that Hiccup was out of character. To be quite honest, his little outburst was entirely unplanned. He just kinda... lost it. I let him roll with it. I think it worked well, though.


	10. Astrid

A/N: So, after that beast of a chapter, filled with angst of the wazoo, we have a nicer chapter filled with happiness, and magic, and battle axes! Okay, maybe just the battle axes... Who knows? I don't! I mean, why would I? I'm just the person writing the story. :D

* * *

Chapter 10

Astrid

It goes without saying that I didn't sleep very well that night. I kept having this dream and waking up in a cold sweat. In the dream, I was being tossed in a river, and I was drowning, and the whole time my dad was standing there, looking down at my as I tried to break the surface. He kept saying, "I'm doing this for you, son. I'm trying to protect you; someday you'll see that. I know it might not seem like it, but I _do_ love you; don't doubt that." No idea where _that _would have come from.

The next morning, when I crept downstairs to leave into the forest, Dad was awake, eating a breakfast he had apparently cooked for himself. He said nothing about my cloaked form as I grabbed a loaf of bread I made the day before, and didn't stop me from walking out the door. Evidently, he was being serious about the whole 'if you want to go, I can't stop you' thing. Still, I ran and I didn't look back.

I was nearing the cove when I heard frustrated grunts and dull thuds. I followed the sound, ignoring the part of my brain that was yelling at me about what a bad idea following the sound was. And I saw her. Astrid. She was throwing axes at unsuspecting trees with deadly accuracy and a very lethal abandon. I was awestruck.

Until she saw me. "You!" she shouted, pointing one of her axes at me. My eyes widened and I ran. "Wait! I just want to talk to you." I scrambled over tree roots and tripped over rocks. But I was terrible at running, and it seemed that she was most certainly _not_. She tackled me to the ground and rolled me onto my back.

I tried to fight off the hands that pulled at my cloak, but she was one strong girl. I was not... er, I was not a strong boy... you know what I mean. She pulled my cloak off.

And shrieked, backing away from me, brandishing her axe at me as if it was the one thing between her and death itself. "It's okay!" I said, rising to my knees and holding my palms out peacefully. "I won't hurt you!"

"You won't?" she huffed, uncertain.

"Do you really think I _could_?" She lowered the axe just a little, eying me carefully.

"Why do you have... _scales_?" I sighed, falling back onto my butt. She jumped a little at my movement.

"It's a skin condition," I told her. "You can understand why I don't get out very much." She laughed, and I smiled. Apparently, the sound surprised her. She hadn't expected to meet a witty, humorous freak in the woods. Actually, after the fiasco the night before, neither had I.

"Do you have a name?" she asked. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"Yes. Most people do."

"What is it?"

"Hiccup." She laughed again, this time intentionally. "Thanks for that. That makes me feel loads better. Really." She grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry, it's just that... you're so small, and your parents _literally_ named you 'runt.' They must ha..." Her word trailed off as she looked at me again, smile fading, eyes growing round. "haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaave a... very ironic... sense of humor."

"Yes, I'm sure that's what you were about to say."

"Sorry." Her cheeks were bright red.

"Don't be. What's your name?" I asked, deciding it would be weird if she knew that I already knew what her name was.

"Astrid." I smiled.

"Like the flower. Though, after seeing you mutilating those innocent trees, I'm not sure you have any business being compared to _anything_ small and delicate." She smiled at what I guessed she took as a compliment.

"Why have you been stealing fish?" I sighed, hoping she would have forgotten about that by now. "And don't try and tell me it wasn't you. I mean, there can't be too many hooded people running around Berk, can there?"

"I mean, I suppose there _could_," I said, "but I'm not going to deny stealing the fish."

"Well, what did you do it for?"

"They're for a... friend of mine."

"You have a friend?" I tried not to take offense. Her eyes went wide when she realized what she had said. "Oh, gods, I'm _sorry_! I didn't mean it like that!"

"It's fine," I said. "Honestly, I'm having a hard time believing it myself." I bit my lip, rising to my feet. "I... I'll introduce you, if you want." She nodded, offering a small smile. "But only if you leave the axe... here." She buried one of the blades in the nearest tree trunk as she stood. "Great..."

As we walked, I looked over and said, "And _he_ doesn't stare at my scales." She blushed again.

~OoO~

How does one introduce a warrior Viking girl who is no-doubt being trained to kill dragons to your best friend who happens to be a dragon without them killing each other? That felt like a question that had no right answer. Or, any answer at all, really.

"Now," I said, trying to explain as we neared the cove, "he's not... you can't judge him at first glance, okay?" She nodded. "I mean it. Whatever you're expecting, he's not. Actually, he is the one thing you would never expect for some one to call a friend." She laughed, pushing me a little.

"What, are you hiding a pet dragon or something?" I didn't answer; I'm worse at lying than I am at running.

"Just, when you see him, let me explain." She paused. I stopped in my tracks. Her eyes were wary. "You have to trust me." There must have been something in my eyes that made her realize just how serious I was being.

"Okay."

"Okay."

I led her out into the cove. "Toothless, bud, where you at?"

"Toothless?" I was scanning the cove when she screamed. I spun around. She was on the ground, Toothless reared up over her, defensive. "Run!" She yelled at me. "I... I'll fight it off! Run!" I did run. Toward them.

"Toothless, bud, calm down!" I stepped between them and he lowered himself onto his front legs. I patted his head. "It's okay, Toothless, she's a friend."

"_This_ is your friend?!" she demanded. I sighed. Well, I hadn't actually expected the meeting to go any better. "When I asked if you were hiding a pet dragon, _I wasn't being serious_!"

"Yeah, I got that. Look, he won't hurt you, Astrid."

"He attacked me!"

"He was scared," I explained. "He was just trying to protect me."

"What _are _you?!" For the first time since I met her, she looked disgusted. I'll admit, that one stung a bit.

"I'm just a guy with a skin condition," I reminded her.

"And a _dragon_!"

"Well, _people _don't want me." I slumped down against Toothless, who had laid down behind me without me realizing it. "My dad doesn't want me." I patted Toothless's nose again. "Toothless is the only friend I've ever had."

She sat down slowly, eyes locked on Toothless. "How did you get him to, you know, not kill you?" I smiled.

"Honestly, no clue. He was going to, I thought, but then he started smelling me. I think he was curious about the scales." I shrugged. "And he stopped. We bonded." She was biting her lip.

"Can I... can I touch him?" Toothless cocked his head to the side.

"If it's okay with him." She looked at her hand for a moment.

"How do I...?"

"Just hold it out, like this." I demonstrated. "And let him do the rest." Still worrying her lower lip, she did. Toothless sniffed her hand and she cringed when she felt his breath. Then he pressed his nose against her palm. Her eyes widened for what seemed like the hundredth time that day, and she smiled.

"Incredible."

"Yeah. He is. The Night Fury, the one dragon Vikings know nothing about, and you're petting it." She was studying Toothless carefully.

"What's all that, on his back?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.

"When I found him, he was hurt; half of his tail was missing. I made a prosthetic. But it closed when he tried to fly, and I realized the only way to keep it open was to do so manually."

She was gobsmacked. "You _flew_ a dragon."

"Yes, I did." She looked up at the sky. I couldn't read the emotion in her eyes.

"I'm going to be late for dragon training!" she groaned. "I gotta go."

I stood abruptly, grabbing her hand before she could leave. "You have to promise me something. You have to promise you won't tell anyone about me, about Toothless... everything you saw today has to stay a complete secret."

"Okay," she agreed without hesitation. "I promise." We shared a smile and I let go of her hand. She ran toward the narrow path that served as the entrance into the cove.

"Wait!" I called. She stopped and turned around. "Come back tomorrow, and I'll show you something amazing!"

"More amazing than... this?" She gestured vaguely at me.

"You just gestured to all of me." She smiled again.

"I know." I tried to decipher that in my mind, but couldn't.

"Okay, yes, more amazing than... this." I guested at myself, and Toothless.

"I'll come back," she promised, "after dragon training." And she was gone.

* * *

A/N: As it turns out, Astrid it pretty tricky to write. Hiccup is no problem. I am naturally snarky and sarcastic, so him is pretty easy. Astrid is a BA who is so fundamentally kick-ass, I have a hard time getting into her mind and writing her with any amount of accuracy. Especially when she has absolutely no reason to hate Hiccup, and Snotlout isn't in the story yet! So, yeah, out of character Astrid. I apologize for that. I tried.


	11. Hiccup

A/N: So, I wasn't gonna post a chapter today. But I got on my email and read a review left by TegzTsinelas that read:

"Too fast! Too fast! Astrid has a very stubborn attitude not to mention her dislike for anything related to dragons (at the beginning) and she won't easily accept hiccup's condition at whim. I thought that there would be more struggle for acceptance and something much more deeper / life threatening for the two of them to experience before they'll reach a certain point of trust. The result was a very out of character girl Viking. No offense to you though, I'm trying to give my thoughts."

No offense taken, my friend. Quite the opposite, actually. I'm actually really glad you brought this up. See, I realized how out of character Astrid was (not necessarily a bad thing in an AU fic). I thought of everything you mentioned. I realize how she's got just the same stubborness issues as the next Viking, but I've always seen her as kind of the rational one. Liable to cause you bodily harm at any given moment, yes, but less 'shoot first; ask questions later' than most of the other Vikings. And I've decided to play that up a bit in this story. But, that's not really the problem.

The problem lies in the prospective. I couldn't explain it from the confines of Hiccup's mind; he would have no reason to know what Astrid was thinking or feeling. But _Astrid _knows what Astrid is thinking and feeling. So, congratulations, Tegz. You have prompted the first completely spur-of-the-moment, impromptu bonus chapter! Good job! :) Sorry if it feels rehashed from Chapter 10 (because it is), but once I got the idea in my head, I _had_ to do this. It's kind of like those fanfics where people take a scene from something and rewrite it from a different character's prospective. Actually, if you want, you can completely skip this chapter and lose _nothing_. Whatever; it's up to you. :)

(P.S. Jeeze Louise, this chapter is a hundred shy of 3000 words.)

* * *

Chapter 11

Hiccup

P.O.V.

Astrid

Dragon Training was stressful business. I was bound and determined to win, to be the one chose to kill the dragon in front of the entire village, to once again bring honor to the tarnished Hofferson name. Unfortunately (for everything within arm's reach), I didn't do stress too well. Just a few years before, I had taken to blowing off steam by hacking away at trees in the forest, where people wouldn't hear me screaming and cursing my frustrations.

I had just spun around and buried the blade of one of my axes into a tree trunk when I saw someone. It was the fish thief, I was sure. The person was staring at me, I could tell. "You!" I shouted, ripping the axe out of the tree and pointing at them. I guess they got spooked or something because they turned tail and ran. And, boy oh boy, was the fish thief _bad_ at that. The way they stumbled and tripped, I caught them before I even had time to work up a sweat. The fish thief hit the ground like a sack of potatoes, and I rolled them over on their back.

I just wanted to talk, to ask why it was necessary to steal the fish. I hadn't told anyone, but I'd been unable to stop myself from wondering. The way the fish thief clawed and batted at my hands when I went to pull off the cloak, you would have thought I was trying to kill the kid.

Okay, in retrospect, I suppose _maybe_ my approach was a bit... abrasive.

Regardless, the kid was _not _very strong. It didn't take much to get around the fish thief's defenses.

I screamed, pushing myself as far away from it as I could.

I didn't know what _it _was. It looked like a person, but it was covered in scales. Like a dragon. I pointed my axe at it, desperately scrambling away. It sat up quickly. "It's okay," it said, eyes wide and very, very green, holding it's hands up, palms out. I had never heard a dragon talk. Or look like a person. The... thing, whatever it was, it's face, I noticed, was only mostly covered by shiny black scales. The skin around it's left eye was tan. The same was true about his fingers and palms. "I won't hurt you."

My hands tightened around my axe. It's eyes were so human, and it had a mop of shaggy auburn hair – reptiles didn't have hair, did they? Its chest heaved a little, and its hands shook. It was as scared as I was... "You won't?" I breathed.

It looked at me as if I was crazy. "Do I really think I _could_?" I wasn't sure what it meant by that. I studied it closely. It had no claws on its hands, its teeth didn't look any different than human's. It didn't even seem to be armed. Pulling off its cloak proved its strength left something to be desired. Honestly, the... thing was scrawny as a tooth pick. I doubted it would weigh a hundred pounds soaking wet. No, it did not look like it could hurt me. Or anyone, really, for that matter.

Against all better judgment, I lowered my axe, just a little bit.

"Why do you have... _scales_?" I demanded, though my voice shook. It sighed and lowered itself into a sitting position (I deny any and all accusation of being startled by this action). Its eyes drooped ever so slightly and it ran a hand though its hair.

"It's a _skin condition_," it told me, utterly dismayed. As if he thought I wouldn't ask. "You can understand why I don't get out much." A bubble of laughter escaped my lips without my permission. He- it smiled. It was a goofy smile, and his front teeth, I noticed, were just a bit too big. It was a nice smile; it reached his eyes, lit them up like torches. I shook the thoughts away.

I bit my lip, eying him carefully. "Do you have a name?" He rolled his eyes ever so slightly.

"Yes," it said. "Most people do." I wondered if he was always so snarky.

"What is it?" He met my eyes, vaguely amused.

"Hiccup." I stared at him for about another second before laughing again. He didn't seem to see the humor. "Thanks for that. That makes me feel loads better. Really." I smiled in spite of myself. Gods, what was I doing, having a conversation with this... thing? He seemed so... normal, if not a bit pitiful. There was just something so... naïve, so innocent about him. It was hard to explain, even to myself.

"Sorry," I told him honestly. "It's just that... you're so small, and your parents _literally_ named you 'runt.' They must ha-" _They must hate you_. I stared at the scales covering his skin, eyes widening. I almost said that. With normal people, you could say that if they had a stupid name, and it was just a joke. But I realize, his parents could very well hate him for his... skin condition. "Haaaaaaaaaaaaave a... very ironic... sense of humor," I finished slowly.

"Yes, I'm sure that's what you were about to say," he said dryly. I felt my cheeks go warm.

"Sorry." I meant it.

"Don't be," he said with a small smile. Beat. "What's your name?"

"Astrid." He smiled wider, eyes shining emeralds.

"Like the flower." I nodded. I tried not to think about that much. "Though, after seeing you mutilating those innocent trees, I'm not sure you have any business being compared to _anything_ small and delicate." I took that as a compliment.

"Why have you been stealing fish?" I blurted suddenly, surprising him just a little. He sighed, running a hand through his hair again. It must have been an unconscious gesture. "And don't try and tell me it wasn't you. I mean, there can't be too many hooded people running around Berk, can there?"

He shrugged. "I mean, I suppose there _could_," he argued. "But I'm not going to deny stealing the fish." _That's what I thought_. He didn't expand on that.

"Well," I prompted. "What did you do it for?"

"They're for a... _friend_ of mine." That wasn't what I expected him to say.

"You have a friend?" I asked without thinking. He looked at me, eyebrows kintted together as if questioning the fact that I really asked that. I wished I hadn't. "Oh, Gods! I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that!" I tried to explain. He brushed me off.

"It's fine. Honestly, I'm having a hard time believing it myself." Why was I feeling bad for this guy? This... thing? It- he could attack me at any moment. But he was just so open, and his eyes... There was something in his eyes. When he smiled, they were full of light and hope. And when that was gone... he just looked so wounded, but that he felt like he deserved it. It was like kicking a puppy.

He stood, worrying his lower hip. His eyes were a million miles away. "I..." he started to say. "I'll introduce you, if you want." I have to admit, I was curious. Two mysterious people lurking in Berk's forest, stealing fish? I wondered if he had scales like Hiccup's. I nodded, smiling a little. He looked between me and my axe, cringing a little. "But, only if you leave the axe... here."

Warning bells were going off in my head. Dozens of them. The whole thing screamed, 'horrible trap.' But his eyes were so honest. And, honestly, I'd be damned if the kid could fight. And if his 'friend' needed this scrap of a... thing to steal fish for him, he couldn't have been in much better shape. My name might be Astrid, but I'm no delicate flower.

I rose slowly to my feet, turned, and drove my axe into the tree behind me. Hiccup gulped, eyes more than a little wide. "Great." He didn't seem very enthusiastic.

He walked a little ahead of me, leading me deeper into the forest. I stared. His scales gleamed in the light that filtered through the trees. They were black, but in the right light, they were the precise color of any inky midnight sky. I noticed a large strip of his neck, mostly hidden by his hair, was the same tan as his left cheek, and it dipped down under his shirt collar.

He looked over at me with a wry smile. "And _he_ doesn't stare at my scales." I flushed with embarrassment. But that was stupid. Did he really expect anyone one _not_ to stare. Except his friend. _Does he have the same scales Hiccup does_? I wondered again

~OoO~

Yes. Yes he does.

I screamed, falling to the ground. A great black dragon towered over me, growling and baring razor sharp teeth at me. It was a dragon I had never seen before, but knew immediately what it was. A Night Fury. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. One does not kill a Night Fury; you hide, and pray it does not find you. I had no where to run, no where to hide.

"Run!" I shrieked to Hiccup, who stood behind me. "I- I'll fight it off! Run!" He ran toward the dragon, placing himself between it and I. What was he doing?! It was almost as if he was trying to soothe it...

"Toothless, bud, calm down!" Toothless... that is what he had called his friend. But, no, when I asked him if he was hiding a pet dragon... he didn't answer. He didn't say anything. He told me to trust him. I had. Gods, I was so stupid! "It's okay, Toothless. She's a friend!" No, I most decidedly _was not_.

But, yeah. Not gonna tell the dragon that.

"_This_ is your friend?" I spat when the dragon lowered itself down to its front legs. It wasn't growling anymore, just looking at me. Probably wondering what way to best kill me. "When I asked if you were hiding a pet dragon, _I wasn't being serious_!"

"Yeah," Hiccup said, "I got that." He sighed, looking between the dragon and I. "Look, he won't hurt you, Astrid." Oh yeah, I believed that.

I rose to my feet. "He attacked me!" As if on cue, it curled up and laid down behind him. If it wasn't a dragon, and I wasn't going to die any minute, I might have thought it was... cute. But it _was _a dragon, and death seemed like a given at that point.

"He was _scared_," Hiccup said. That was rich! A _dragon_? Afraid of _me_? Right. And Monsterous Nightmares just wanna make s'mores. "He was just protecting me."

I had been wrong. Hiccup _was _a monster.

"What _are _you?!" I couldn't keep the disgust out of my voice; I didn't try. He looked absolutely crestfallen. Puppy, kicked.

"I'm just a guy with a skin condition."

"And a _dragon_!"

"Well! _People_ don't want me!" He dropped down to the ground, leaning heavily on the dragon. It nuzzled his arm gently, eyes soft and round. Hiccup's hair fell in his eyes. He rested his elbows on his knees, and he looked absolutely defeated, like he'd faced a hundred years, and it wore him down to the bone. "My dad doesn't want me." He patted the dragon's nose. "Toothless is the only friend I've ever had."

Suddenly, looking at them – Hiccup so broken and the dragon trying in earnest to make him smile again – death didn't seem so certain anymore.

I sat down slowly, eyes never leaving the dragon. It wasn't even looking at me anymore. It was focused solely on Hiccup, who patted it mindlessly. "How did you get him to, you know, not kill you?" I dared to ask. He looked up at me, smiling. It didn't reach his eyes.

"Honestly? No clue." He looked over at the dragon, and I could just feel the affection radiating off the both of them. It wasn't natural, but there was something about it... it was right. "He was going to, I thought, but then he started smelling me." I ignored how weird that sounded. "I think he was curious about the scales." He and everyone else. Hiccup shrugged. "And he stopped. We bonded."

He said it like it was the most natural thing in the world.

He looked back over at me. I bit my lip, staring at the dragon. _I wonder..._

"Can I..." No backing down now. _Hofferson's aren't afraid of anything_, I reminded myself. "Can I touch him?" The dragon looked up, tilting its head to the side curiously. It didn't _look_ like it wanted to eat me, but I wasn't an expert on the behavior of domestic dragons. Oh wait, there was no such _thing_ as domestic dragons!

"If it's okay with him." And that is what I was afraid of. I wondered what would happen if it _wasn't_ okay with him. My hand didn't like the thought. Actually, neither did the rest of me, for that matter.

"How do I...?" Hiccup laughed a little, and I saw just a feint spark in his eyes.

"Just hold it out, like this." He extended his arm slowly, palm out, fingers relaxed. "And let him do the rest." That wasn't a very comforting thought. _Hofferson's aren't afraid of anything_. Biting my lip, I did what he showed me.

I'm only going to say this once, and if you ask me about it, I will deny everything, but when I felt the dragon's breath tickle my skin, I just about wet myself. Tell anyone that, and there will be an axe with your name on it. Then the dragon pressed its nose against palm, eyes closed. It rubbed a little and I smiled in pure amazement.

"Incredible." Words didn't even begin to describe what I was feeling. Hiccup's eyes were full of their wonderful light again.

"Yeah," he agreed. "He is. The Night Fury, the one dragon Vikings know _nothing_ about, and you're petting it." I drew my hand away slowly, and took in the unbelievable sight before my eyes once more. But something was off. My eye brows drew together as I tried to decide what I was seeing.

"What's all that, on his back?" I asked, pointing at the brown and silver _whatever_ it was. Hiccup thought for a moment before he spoke.

"When I found him, he was hurt; half of his tail was missing." I wondered how something managed to hurt a Night Fury, but I didn't interrupt to ask. "I made a prosthetic. But it closed when he tried to fly, and I realized the only way to keep it open was to do so manually."

I was at a complete loss for words. "You _flew_ a dragon."

"Yes," he said with no hesitation. "I did." This kid was insane. I looked up at the sky, wondering what it must have been like to glide with the birds and touch the clouds... On second thought, maybe he was less insane than he was absolutely brilliant...

No, still very much insane.

And then I remembered. "I'm going to be late for dragon training!" It was the second-to-last lesson before the winner was chosen, the one who had the honor of... I told you all of this already. I jumped up. "I gotta go."

Then he was on his feet and he grabbed my hand. I was breathless for about half a second. "You have to promise me something. You have to promise you won't tell anyone about me, about Toothless. Everything you saw today has to stay a complete secret." His eyes were so intense, smoldering like the green bonfires made from burning driftwood.

"Okay. I promise." And I meant it, surprisingly. I wasn't going to tell a soul about this mysterious boy and his pet dragon. He was... _my_ secret. I smiled, and he returned it with all the brilliance I had already come to love about his eyes. And you have no idea how much that realization shook me, to my very core.

I liked Hiccup.

Before I could leave, he called out to me one last time. "Come back tomorrow, and I'll show you something amazing!"

"More amazing than..." I didn't know how to explain it. "This?" I motioned up and down his body. His confusion was priceless.

"You just gestured to all of me." I grinned.

"I know." Oh, the poor boy. So clueless.

"Okay," he agreed. "More amazing than... this." He copied my movement, but included the dragon too.

"I'll come back," I told him. "After dragon training."

And I meant that too.

The Gods only knew how much trouble I was walking myself into.


	12. A Whole New World

A/N: ***Frustrated sigh*** I baby sit a pair of Terrible Terrors. They're going to be the death of me, I swear (or, maybe I have that backwards...). My god, if I had acted half as bad as they do, I would not be here to post this story, I can tell you that much. I try to stay calm, I try and be nice, and that does nothing but give me a headache. Heck, they even throw a fit if I tell them to sit down and watch cartoons. God, I regret the day I ever introduced that boy to Pokemon. What's worse is, it is times like these when I realize that I am exactly like my mother. ***yet another sigh*** I don't get paid enough for this... or at all. -_- So, yeah, I would have had this up earlier, but my hands were full.

* * *

Chapter 12

A Whole New World

"So, what did you get up to today?" Dad asked after closing the door behind him that night. I jumped, nearly dropping the spoon I stirred the food cooking over the fire with.

"Oh, not much," I said with a shrug. "Drawing plants, climbing trees, introducing my girlfriend to my pet dragon, you know." I glanced over my shoulder to see him studying me with an odd look. "Kidding. I don't know how to climb trees!"

"Ha ha. You're very funny." He sat down heavily. I glanced over at him from the corner of my eye.

"Long day?" I asked, grabbing dishes for dinner. Dad sighed. I imagined him pinching the bridge of his nose, eyes squeezed tight shut.

"You could say that. Winter's coming, and we had about as much luck finding the dragon nest as we've had in the past." That is to say, none. I thought better of voicing that, doubting it would improve his mood all that much. I thought of Toothless in the cove, smiling a little to myself when those thoughts turned to Astrid.

"How's dragon training going?" I asked casually. "Did Gobber say?" Dad probably thought I was just trying to take his mind off of his problems.

"Aye. He said it's going fine." The stunning conversationalist, as always.

"Who do you think is going to get to kill the dragon?" I could practically feel his eyes on me. I looked up. "What?"

"Why do you want to know that? You wouldn't know any of them if I told you." I shrugged.

"I'm just trying to make conversation." Was it just me, or was my voice just a bit too high? "Sorry."

"No, it's fine." Dad started going on mindlessly about the other teenagers. I only half listened. He mentioned something about how distracted Astrid had been. I wondered if I was to blame for that. Well, Toothless and I, anyway. "What are you smiling about?"

I blinked a few times as he pulled me away from my thoughts. Had I been smiling? "What? Oh, nothing. Just thinking, I guess." Dad grunted, filling his mouth with food. Well, _that_ conversation was over. _Good talking to you_, I thought as I started eating, too.

~OoO~

P.O.V.

Astrid

I had no idea what I was going to tell him, though I walked toward the cove slowly in an attempt to think of something,_ anything_. I could already see the look on his face. I sighed, heaving my axe over my shoulder. But I couldn't just _not_ tell him. Could I?

I could see him down below, scratching Toothless's neck. The dragon leaned into his touch. It was cute. A boy and his dragon. I smiled for a moment before I remembered I would have to tell him _eventually_. With a sigh, I climbed down into the cove. Toothless perked up, and Hiccup spun around, that goofy smile spreading across his face, showing off his slightly crooked, oversized front teeth. I smiled back at him, decided I would tell him later, as opposed to sooner.

"Hey!" he called, motioning for me to join him. I dropped my axe against a boulder and crossed the space until I was standing across from his and Toothless's curious green eyes. In the golden late afternoon light, I realized just how much they looked alike. Same silky midnight scales, same round green eyes. No wonder they, as Hiccup said, _bonded_.

"You ready?" Hiccup asked, a mischievous glint swimming in his eyes.

"Ready for _what_?" He grinned, patting Toothless. I still didn't get it. He looked up, then back at me. I copied the gesture, my eyes catching on Toothless's saddle. "Oh, no!"

He nodded slowly. "Oh, yes."

I took a step back, holding up my hands. "No, no, no, no. That is _not _happening." I touched the dragon, yes. That was morbid curiosity. But there was no way in Hel I was getting _on_ that thing.

"You'll love it," he promised. "It's unlike anything you've ever experienced." I did not doubt that.

I should have told him, then and there. I should have broken his little heart and ran away, forgot all about him. It probably would have saved everyone a lot of trouble. Instead, I said:

"You're insane."

"Yes, probably," he agreed. That did nothing to instill my confidence in him. "But you have to try it, just once."

"No, I really think I don't." He rolled his eyes, throwing a leg over the dragon's back and mounting the saddle. "Hiccup, I'm a Viking. Vikings _kill_ dragons. We don't _ride_ them!" I turned to leave, regretting my decision to come back in the first place. "This was a mistake."

"Astrid, wait." I did, and the Gods only know why. He looked up at me with smoldering eyes and held out a hand. "Don't you trust me?" I looked back at my axe. I was defying seven generations of Vikings, going against everything I had ever been told. I looked back at his hand.

_Hoffersons aren't afraid of anything._

I batted his hand away and climbed on the dragon. "I still think you're crazy. And if you get me killed on this thing, I will murder you." Toothless growled a little, and I tensed.

"It's fine," he muttered to the dragon, patting its head. "Toothless, take us up. Gently." He looked back at me. "We're going to be fine. I've done this... twice."

"_Twice_?!" I made to get off the saddle, but the dragon shot up into the sky.

"Woah! Toothless!" I could hardly hear Hiccup over the sound of wind in my ears. My grip on the saddle was loosening, and I was slipping off. I reached out for Hiccup, fingers wrapping around his hair and ears. "What is wrong with you? Bad dragon!" I stopped screaming when my butt was back on the saddle. "He's not usually like this."

I was taking no chances. I wrapped my arms around Hiccup. Then we were going upside down. "Oh, no." I screamed again. Never had I wanted father away from a dragon than in that moment. The sea was coming very, very close. And then I was wet. The dragon started dipping in and out of the frigid water. "Toothless," Hiccup moaned, "what are you doing? We need her to _like _us!"

Did he think I was going to tell someone?

Yes, I realized. He did.

And then we were streaking up. My arms wound tighter around Hiccup. "And now he's spinning..." Hiccup noted, as if I hadn't already figured that out. "Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile."

Nose dive. Straight down, and still spinning wildly. And I realized something. Once you got past the gut-wrenching terror, it was actually pretty _fun_. Another scream escaped my lips, but that one was out of excitement, adrenaline. Not fear.

"Okay," I shouted as loud as I could, nearly breathless. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I was wrong!" And then we were gliding. The sky was on fire with shades of pink and orange, and it was almost like we were floating on clouds. I looked around in wonder. Hiccup was still entirely insane, but riding a dragon... he was right. It was unlike anything else. It was better.

Berk was a beautiful place, when it wanted to be. But the view from the sky was unbelievable. Rows of our little houses, people small as ants bustling about, tiny specks of sheep milling around, yaks grazing. It made me fall in love with our island all over again. I could see Hiccup smiling as he stared down, possibly wondering what it would be like to walk along the wave-beaten shores, or laugh and eat with everyone in the great hall. Such insignificant things, I realized, things I took for granted, and they were things Hiccup had never gotten to do.

We were right below a bank of clouds. I'd always imagined how soft and silky they must have been, like little baby lambs. Curious, I reached up and grabbed for one, and it came apart in my hands, dissipating like mist or fog, leaving my arm wet.

We flew for hours, until all the color leeched from the sky and Arvin Dale's Fire lit up the sky in brilliant blues and greens high above the clouds. We didn't speak; we didn't need to.

But I needed to tell him.

"Hiccup," I said, staring out over the water littered with a million diamonds from the moon. "There's something I need to tell you."

"Me too." He glanced back at me over his shoulder. His eyes were dark and crystalline in the moonlight, much like the waves that tossed hundreds of feet below.

"Oh, really?" He nodded. "Well, you go first."

"No, no. You go first."

I drew in a deep breath. "I was chosen to kill the dragon in Dragon Training." His eyes betrayed nothing. He was silent. "What are you thinking?" I asked.

"Well, I'm kind of thinking that maybe I should have gone first." There was a faint trace of a smile on his lips, but it was sad. "Because, I was going to offer to teach you how to train dragons."

"What?" I was speechless. "Me? Train dragons?" He nodded, his smile growing a bit hopeful. "I'm not so sure that's a good idea."

"Why not?" The list grew bigger by the second. "I mean, you could show people, show them that dragon's aren't dangerous. Show them that everything we know about them is wrong." I didn't disagree with that sentiment. I couldn't; not after today.

"Show them yourself."

He laughed, but there was no humor in it. He stared straight ahead, into the night. "I'm not so sure _that's_ a good idea."

"Why not?"

"Look at me, Astrid. Look at me, and look at everyone else. I don't belong on Burk." He sighed deeply. "I'm a curse."

"You have a skin condition. It's no one else's business what you look like."

"People don't think like that." His head hung. "If I step out the door, let others see me, anyone but you... They'd kill me." There was a rock in my stomach.

"Who told you that?"

"My dad." Before I could think of a single thing to tell him, he said, "that's why I'm leaving Berk."

"What? When?" He shrugged.

"Soon."

"Why?"

"There's nothing here for me," he said, so certain it was painful. "My dad always planned for me to leave Berk when he died. I say, why wait? I have Toothless. I can go, and no one will miss me."

"I will." Silence pressed against us, suffocating.

"You'd get over it. You've only known me for two days." Then Toothless jerked, looking around furiously and diving downward suddenly. "Toothless, what's happening?" Toothless growled. "Whoa, what is it?"

Through the clouds, the forms of hundreds of dragons appeared, each carrying some kind of animal or other. Hiccup and I ducked down low onto Toothless's back, desperate to not be seen. The growls of the dragons around us were haunting and otherworldly. Goosebumps rose on my skin.

"What's going on?" I hissed.

"I _don't _know." He touched Toothless's head lightly, drawing the dragon's attention. "Toothless, you gotta get us out of here, bud." Toothless grunted, shaking his head. "I'll take that as a no..."

We watched the other dragons, hoping we weren't about to die.

"It... looks like they're hauling in their kill," Hiccup said.

"Uh... what does that make us?"

~OoO~

P.O.V.

Hiccup

I wish I had an answer for her.

But I did not.

And then we were diving again. My stomach rolled. Astrid's arms tightened around my chest. Rocks rose out of the water. We couldn't see them through the fog until we were right on top of them. Toothless dodged them expertly. I squinted, desperate to pick some detail out of the fog. An island grew before my eyes. And it looked like that was where we were heading.

We flew into a dark hole.

Don't ever do that; it's not fun.

Then the cavern was lit by a Hel-ish orange glow, and the chill of the night was replaced by intense heat. Before our eyes, the dragons dropped carcass after carcass into the glowing pit. It was the dragon's nest.

"What my dad wouldn't give to find this..."

Toothless landed on a ledge and crouched behind a pillar, keeping us safe and hidden. I patted him on the head. I watched more animals fall into the pit.

"Well, it's satisfying to know that all of our food has been dumped down a hole."

"They're not eating _any_ of it," Astrid noted as a Gronkle made its way to the food pit. He spat out a single little fish, looking quite proud of himself, and hovered in place to scratch behind his ear. There was a low rumble, and the Gronkle started flying upward.

Then the jaws of death itself rose out of the pit and swallowed the Gronkle whole.

Astrid and I gasped in horror at the behemoth. "What_ is_ that?" Astrid hissed, her grip tightening even more. All the dragons, Toothless included, shrunk back into the shadows, nervous grumbled erupting all around.

"Alright, bud, we gotta get out of here." Toothless launched into the air just before the jaws of death snapped shut around the spot we had just been. All the dragons took to the air, fleeing the monster. It climbed up after us, snapping shut its jaws again, and another unfortunate dragon became its meal.

I was okay with that.

~OoO~

We had seen death.

And Toothless outflew it.

Back in the cove, both of us still terrified and trembling from our run in with imminent doom, we sat on Toothless for an awkward moment. It would do neither of us any good to go home looking like we were about to wet ourselves. Or like we already had.

Astrid was going on about how the dragon nest was like a bee hive. It didn't make me feel much better, honestly. "They're the workers," she said, "and _that's_ their queen. It controls them." She jumped down off of Toothless. "Come on, we've got to go tell someone, go tell the chief!"

"No, no!" I cried, jumping down and racing after her. "No, not yet. You'll have to explain how you found it. Astrid, we have to think this through carefully."

"Hiccup, _we_ just discovered the _dragon's nest_. The thing we've been after since Vikings first sailed here. And you want to keep it a secret? If you tell them, you'll be a hero!"

"I don't care about me," I said. "They'll kill Toothless." I knelt down in front of him, scratching lightly under his chin the way he liked.

"You'd give up the chance at a normal life? To save your pet dragon?" After all we'd been through, I was amazed she had to ask. "Are you serious?"

I stood and turned to face her. "Yes."

Her eyes softened, and I turned away. "Okay. But, what are you going to do?"

"Leave." It was the only answer. "Tomorrow. The day after, you can go to the chief. Tell him everything. He'll listen."

"How do you know that?"

"Trust me." She nodded.

"Okay."

And then she punched me in the arm.

"_That's_ for almost getting me killed tonight." I stared at her, rubbing my arm. Toothless grumbled in a way that sounded an awful lot like laughter, the traitor.

She bit her lip before grabbing me by the front of my shirt, quick as a bird, and pecked me on the cheek. She brushed her hair out of her eyes, and I could have sworn she was blushing. "And, that's in case I never see you again."

And she ran.

I stared after her in wonder, hand pressing lightly to my cheek. Toothless came up behind me and growled knowingly. "What are _you_ looking at?"

* * *

A/N: And, yes, I did listen to _A Whole New World_ while writing this. I was going to name the chapter Romantic Flight (boring, I know), but then I watched it and started singing, so... yeah. :)


	13. The Arena

A/N: Has anyone ever noticed how well the song _Perfect_ by Simple Plan fits Hiccup and Stoick? I kind of use that a little in this chapter. But, just a little, tiny bit. Un poco.

Ooh, we're getting very near the end. How exciting!

* * *

Chapter 13

The Arena

You could practically feel excitement in the air the next morning. I knew everyone would be at the arena to watch Astrid kill the dragon. The whole village – minus me – would be there. Dad left after breakfast. I didn't leave immediately. Instead, I ripped a page out of my journal and grabbed my coal pencil.

I decided the night before, as I turned in my bed, unable to sleep because the queen dragon reappeared behind my eyelids every time I tried, that I couldn't just tell my dad I was leaving with my pet dragon. There were so many things that could go wrong with that if I tried, it was almost painful to think about. No, the only way would be to find out after I was already.

I decided to write him a letter.

I would be gone before Astrid killed the Monstrous Nightmare Dad had been going on about, so what harm would there be in me telling him I had turned against Viking kind and ran away on the back of a dragon?

But as I sat there, willing the right words to come, they refused. It was harder than I imagined to tell my dad that I was running away. Why should it have been? Berk was hardly a home. But, still, it was the only home I knew.

It took nearly an hour before I found the words.

After that, I went to get Toothless. I didn't want to try and carry everything I would need into the forest, so I brought Toothless to my- er, Dad's house while I packed. When I was done, I looked around, the realization that it was the last time I would ever see the home I'd spent fourteen years trapped inside hitting me like a boulder from a catapult. I glanced wistfully out the window.

Just once, I wanted to walk the streets of Berk properly. In the full light of day, the way it was meant to be seen. Still, I threw my cloak over myself and led Toothless along with me. If I needed a quick getaway, no one would be able to catch a Night Fury.

~OoO~

P.O.V.

Astrid

I thought a lot about what Hiccup said. That he wanted me to show everyone that dragons could be trained, that we didn't have to kill them. And after seeing the Night Fury, the most dangerous dragon we – until the night before – knew lurked around our home, curled up like a puppy, leaned in with closed eyes as someone rubbed its neck in _just_ the right way, flying happily through the clouds...

But Vikings killed dragons. Dragons killed Vikings. It had always been that way. Hiccup and Toothless? They were the exception. Not the rule.

But rules are made to be broken.

Standing, ready to enter the arena and kill the Monstrous Nightmare in front of everyone, my nerves ignited like the dragon waiting for its chance to burn me alive no doubt would.

_Hoffersons aren't afraid of anything_

_ Hoffersons aren't afraid of anything_

_ Hoffersons aren't afraid of anything_

I could do it. But, Gods, did I wish Hiccup was there. And as soon as I thought it, I brushed it away. Hiccup was gone. I would never see him again. _Forget about Hiccup_.

It was time. I walked in slowly, grabbing a shield and battle axe from the weapons rack. I licked my lips. They were dry. My breath was coming in short pants. I had to do it.

I had to do it.

The dragon was released.

It stalked toward me slowly. I stood up straight, staring it down. I could do it. I had to. _Hoffersons aren't afraid of anything_. I could do it. I drew in a deep breath.

My shield and axe hit the ground with a loud clang.

I could hear the intake of breath even far below the crowd. I ignored the whispers that surrounded me, pressed against me like walls and swallowed down the lump in my throat. It was the moment of truth. I could do it. Hoffersons weren't afraid of anything, right?

I held out my hand.

It was just like Hiccup showed me. I spoke firmly as I inched toward the dragon. "Two days ago, I met a boy. A boy none of you have ever seen." You could have heard a pin drop. "This boy taught me that... that we are wrong about dragons." I was less than a foot away from the Nightmare.

"We don't have to fight them."

My hand was inches away.

"This boy's name is Hiccup-"

"_That is enough_!" the chief shouted, pounding on the metal bars before him. My eyes snapped back toward the Nightmare. It didn't look too happy. I snatched my hand away just before its teeth could rip it off.

It breathed fire. I ducked, scooping up my shield and axe. The crowd was frantic. The Nightmare breathed fire again. It was close, so close, and it was murderous. I was trapped.

I'll admit it; I screamed.

~OoO~

P.O.V.

Hiccup

I heard the scream, and I knew immediately who it was. Astrid. "Come on, bud!" I had to save her. Finding the arena was no challenge. It's where the crowd of shouting Vikings was gathered. Toothless landed well away. I couldn't be seen.

I dismounted Toothless, and thought, heart racing. The other Vikings... if something was really, really wrong, if she was going to die, they would jump in, right? Honestly, I didn't know. I had no idea how those things worked.

Astrid shrieked again.

I didn't have time to figure out what the other Vikings would do because Toothless bounded away toward her with a fierce growl. "Toothless, no!" But it was useless.

The crowd parted before him, screaming and scrambling away. He blasted through the metal bars like they were made of paper. I raced forward toward the mass of bodies. Secrets be damned.

Toothless was fighting the Nightmare. Astrid looked on in confusion and horror. She looked up, scanning the crowd. I knew the instant she saw me; her eyes grew infinitely wider.

The arena was filling with Vikings. _I guess that answers _that _question_. Toothless had already done a number on the Nightmare. The Vikings moved to capture Toothless. They pinned him to the ground. Astrid tried to stop them. "Stop! He's not dangerous. He was just trying to protect me!" A man held her back; I assumed he was her father. She fought against him and he drug her out of the arena.

My heart was full of lead, tears filling my eyes. I couldn't do anything. "Put it with the others," my father ordered. "I'll be back soon."

"Hiccup!" Astrid cried, racing over to me. She looked shaken and more scared than I had ever seen her. "I'm sorry-"

I shook my head. "We don't have time for that. We have to get back to my house before he does." I grabbed her hand, running in the opposite direction.

"Before who?"

"My dad. Didn't you hear him? 'Put it with the others. I'll be back soon,'" I imitated, right down to the accent. Astrid stopped dead, and I nearly faceplanted. "What are you doing?"

"Your dad... is Stoick the Vast?" I stared at her, not understanding what she was getting at. "Your father... is the chief." Ah, that explained it. I could see the dots connecting in her head.

"Did I not mention that?" I asked grabbing her hand again. She pulled it out of mine. I sighed in frustration, running a hand through my hair. "Astrid, Toothless is in a lot of trouble. We have to _go_."

She nodded, eyes refocusing as if she had come out of a trance. "Right. Come on, what are you waiting for?" She practically drug me behind her.

I didn't know how far behind or ahead of my father we were, but we ran like we were being chased by Hel herself. We burst through the door, and I tripped, sprawling over the wooden floor.

The house was empty.

For now.

I had no doubt my father was on his way up, though I wasn't sure how exactly we beat him without running into him. Maybe he made a detour. I stood, brushing myself off, and closed the door before pulling the cloak over my head.

Astrid stood by the table, looking intently at what I figured was my letter to my father.

"Dad," she read slowly, "I'm sorry to tell you like this, but I'm leaving. You told me yourself you expected this some day, I'm just doing it sooner than you planned. We both know there's nothing left for me on Berk, but there are a few things you need to know.

"I wasn't lying or joking about the pet dragon the other night. Dragons aren't dangerous, like we've always thought. They're just animals. And they can be trained, just like animals can. I saved the life of a Night Fury. It was the first friend I ever had.

"I did lie about not being seen. I met someone in the forest, and, after I'm gone, she is going to tell you something very important. I need you to listen to her. Please, as the last request I ever make of you, listen to her. And don't go." I could feel her looking at me, but I studied the floor.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be the son you wanted. And I love you; don't doubt that.

"Hiccup." Without a word, and without a single glance at Astrid, I crossed the room, crushed the letter in my fist, and threw it in the fire pit. It caught on the embers that still glowed orange and was gone before either of us could blink.

"Don't think I'll be needing that anymore." Finally, I met her eyes. "What happened?"

She recounted the events that transpired in the arena, how she attempted to show them that dragons could be trained, how she told them of a boy the had never seen. I sighed, rubbing my hand against my cheek mindlessly. It was all so messed up.

The door opened.

Let's just say, my dad was _not_ happy.

"Dad!" He looked between us, livid. I thought he might explode. Or I would. Whichever came first. "Look, please, just let me explain-"

"You lied to me," he growled. "Every step of the way. You said no one saw you."

"I also told you I introduced my... friend to my pet dragon, remember?" That might have been the wrong thing to say. "What Astrid said, she was right! Everything we know about dragons is wrong! I know, I should have told you sooner, should have showed you for myself, but... I was trying to protect-"

"You were trying to protect the dragon," he spat. I cringed. "And look what happened. Look how many people could have died."

"He wasn't going to hurt anyone," Astrid argued, stepping forward. She was a lot braver than I was, standing up to my father when he was on a lever of anger I had never even seen before. "He was trying to protect me."

"You have no business here," Dad growled at her. To her credit, she didn't so much as flinch. "You shouldn't even know my son exists."

"Why? Because you think anyone who saw him would try and kill him? Because that's what you would have done?" My breath caught in my lungs. Did she really just say that? "Hiccup is my _friend_, scales or no scales. It was wrong of you to treat him like he didn't exist, like he shouldn't exist. And it's wrong to kill the dragons when they only attack us so they don't get killed themselves."

Dad and I froze, eyes locked on her.

"What did you just say?"

"Er..." Dad looked between the two of us.

"You've been to their nest?" Astrid and I shared a look. _Well, that escalated quickly..._ "How did you find it?!"

"We didn't," I sighed, "only a dragon can find it. That's not the point-"

"A dragon..." He stopped listening to me. "The Night Fury..."

"Dad, no! You have _no _idea what you're up against-" He was muttering to himself, eyes far away.

"Sir," Astrid said, stepping forward to block his path to the door, "with all due respect, you _need _ to listen to Hiccup-" He pushed her out of the way and walked out of the house. We followed.

"Dad!" He turned, eyes weary.

"I'll deal with you later," he said, voice empty. He turned to Astrid. "Go home, and forget about my son. You won't be seeing him again." And he walked away.

"Well, that went great," I huffed, leaning heavily against the door, hanging my head.

"What now?"

"I have to save Toothless."

"What are you gonna do?"

I sighed. "Something very, very stupid."

* * *

A/N: And before anyone asks: **No, that was NOT a death threat!** Nor was it threat of any kind of bodily harm. It might have sounded like it, but that is not how I, er, Stocik, meant it. I already implied abuse before in this story without meaning to, let's not do it again, hmm?


	14. Something Stupid

A/N: Well, we all knew this was coming. If you've been keeping track of where this story is in relation to the movie, as it is following the same/similar progression as the movie, you might have realized that we are nearing the infamous 'Stoick disowns Hiccup' scene. How exactly will that translate into this story? You're about to find out!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a Silent Realm in Skyward Sword that is calling my name ***shudders*** and I really have to do it, because the friend I'm borrowing the game from is starting to get mad because I've had it for quite a long time.

* * *

Chapter 14

Something Stupid

Dad was headed to the Great Hall, where a large crowd of Vikings gathered. Astrid and I chased after him. It was a recipe for disaster, I knew, but I had to stop my father, no matter the cost to me. Astrid held my hand.

"Dad," I called, "Dad! Stop." He did, back stiff. He was in the middle of the crowd. Whispers floated around, heavy as iron. Astrid and I were given a wide berth and soon the three of us were encircled by bodies. "You need to listen to me."

Someone screamed.

"Monster!" "Dragon!"

"Kill it!"

"No!" my father shouted, standing in front of me. "No one touches him."

"Stoick, what is this?" Unlike the other men who had long, thick beards, the man who spoke's chin was covered in black stubble that showed off a strong jaw line.

My dad hung his head. "This is Hiccup... He is my son." There was a stunned silence.

"You mean, the son you told us was born dead?" Well, that was news to me.

"Yes." He sighed heavily. "It was Valka's last request of me, that I keep him safe." A man pushed his way to the front of the crowd, and I recognized him as Astrid's father.

"Astrid," he hissed, "get _away_ from that thing!" She turned on him with wild eyes.

"He's not a _thing_!" she shouted. "He's a _person_. A person with a name and feelings and you have _no right_ to treat him any different!"

"You don't know the trouble his kind has caused," the beardless man said darkly. "His scales aren't just a birth defect; they're a curse from the gods."

"That's ridiculous."

"It's true," my father said. "A curse placed on those who betray their kind in favor of the dragons." She looked between my father and I, unspoken words hanging on her lips. "And that's exactly what he did."

"You're right," I said. "But you need to listen to me. Astrid and I, we saw the dragon's nest. If you go, you _won't_ come back." There was a sharp intake of breath all around.

"You would take the word of a traitor?" My father said nothing. The beardless man's eyes softened and he placed a hand on my father's shoulder. "Brother, I know it is hard, but you are the chief; you must think of the village before yourself, think of the many before the one, as you have done before with Alvin." He placed his sword in my father's hand. "You know what you must do."

My father looked from the sword in his hand to me and back, eyes unreadable. Now, many people might think, _oh, he's your father, Hiccup; he said he loved you, even if he has a messed up way of showing it. Surely, he won't kill his own son_. I would call those people _optimists_.

I am not an optimist.

And, apparently, neither was Astrid. She stepped between my father an I, fire in her eyes. "If you want to kill Hiccup, you're going to have to kill me first." She ignored her father shouting at her to get out of the way. My father was still staring at the sword clutched tight in his fist.

"Astrid, move." She looked over her shoulder at me. "It'll okay," I promised, though the lie was bitter on my tongue. "Please, move."

"No." I sighed, knowing what I needed to do. Taking a deep breath, I pushed her as hard as I could toward her father. Someone in the crowd screamed. I didn't meet her eyes as she shouted at me; I didn't want to see the look in her eyes.

I stepped before my father, and he met my eyes. I stood up straight. "Do what you need to do," I told him. My voice didn't shake, didn't waiver. "But, please, for once, listen to me. If you go to the dragon's nest, you will be walking right to your own death. You can't win this one." He said nothing. "Go ahead, then; kill me. It's what you've always wanted, isn't it?"

Dad raised the sword. I continued to meet his eyes.

"You don't deserve to die on your feet like a man," a man spat from over my father's shoulder. Someone in the back of the crowd shouted, "On your knees, monster!"

Much like the regurgitated fish Toothless made me eat, my pride was not an easy thing to swallow. But I did. I sunk down onto my knees. My father's eyes watched me go, and I stared back. I wasn't afraid.

After a long moment, I bowed my head, bearing my neck. It would be a clean blow. I could hear Astrid's screams of protest, and imagined her fighting furiously against her father's grip. "Hiccup, no! Stop, please! Don't kill him!"

Everyone waited with bated breath - except Astrid, who still screamed furiously from somewhere behind me. I squeezed my eyes tight shut, and my fingers dug into my knees painfully, praying for a quick death.

The tip of the sword drove into the ground in front of my face. The breath ran out of my lungs in a rush. All eyes were on my father; his back was turned to me.

"It was your mother's last wish that you live. I will not deny her that and take an innocent life." His eyes swept over the crowd. "We are going to the nest; the Night Fury will lead us there. Gear up for battle, we leave immediately." His eyes locked on to the beardless man. "Any objections?" Beat. "Good. Now, step to." They dispersed reluctantly. Astrid dropped down to my side, throwing her arms around my shoulders. Dad returned his attention to me, but he refused to even look at me. "When we return, you will not be here."

And he walked away, leaving me shaking and confused on the ground.

* * *

A/N: ***whispering*** I think my computer is possessed... it keeps making demon noises... _Save me_!_  
_


	15. NOT A CHAPTER: UPDATE

**Update: Not a chapter**

So, I was _going _to post a new chapter today. I just had to copy/paste from my document on my computer, give it a once-over, and publish. Well, I went to open my document and it's _f-ing corrupted_! My story, which was nearly 30 pages, reduced to 13 f-ing pages of pound signs! I guess that's what I get for using OpenOffice. I wonder, does LibreOffice have this problem, anyone know? I might switch, if it doesn't. Because, guess what? This isn't the first time it's happened! It happened on my NaNoWriMo last year. It happened on a 10 page English paper which I forgot to back up.

Thankfully, all I really _lost_ was chapter 15. Unfortunately, I will have to rewrite it. _Sigh_. I wish I had Microsoft Office; it was so nice. But my trial ran out, and I don't want to buy it! I would use WordPad, but, oh, wait... WordPad is a complete piece of crap.

I hate technology.

I hate it all so much.


	16. How to Train a Dragon

A/N: So, as I was rewriting this chapter (thank you all for your suggestions - I decided to use Google Docs, which I already used for school and when I forget my flash drive, even though I prefer password protecting my fanfictions because I'm paranoid that way), I had the TV on, not really watching, and Disney's The Hunchback of Notre-Dame was on, and do you realize how similar the stories are? A man in a position of power is asked to raise a child who lost his mother, and by the standards of society, would be considered a monster because of his appearance. The man hides the child away instead of allowing anyone to see him and eventually, when the child is grown, he escapes his confinement and befriend a member of a persecuted group in the city. Thought you might find that interesting.

* * *

Chapter 15

How To Train a Dragon

"What _is_ it?" a low, raspy female voice asked in a carrying whisper. I glanced up enough to see four curious figures - three boys and a girl - inching toward us. I assumed they were the other teenagers in Astrid's dragon killing classes.

The one who spoke, the girl, she had long blonde hair wound into thick braids and a boy who looked almost exactly the same, but without the braids, stood to her left. They were tall and lanky and their eyes held a mischievous gleam. Next to him was another fair haired boy. He was large, but came off as a gentle giant type. His eyes darted back and forth between the ground at his feet and I. The muscular, dark haired boy next to him stared openly at me, eyes slitted as he looked between Astrid and I.

"I dunno," the mischievous boy said. "But I wanna poke it with a stick." Astrid gave him a look that did everything but audibly hiss. He stared accusingly at his sister. "Why would you say something like that?" She slugged him in the arm.

"A-are you... are you really the c-chief's son?" the large boy asked quietly, not looking anywhere near me, fingers tapping together in front of him.

"Yes," I said. They reeled back a little as if they didn't realize I could speak Norse as well as the next Viking. "Yes, I am."

"Heh," the girl laughed, looking at the muscular boy. "That makes you cousins, Snotlout!" Snotlout looked at me, absolutely repulsed by the thought. I ignored him and stood, helping Astrid to her feet. They all took a step back.

"I'm not going to hurt you," I sighed, pulling my hand through my hair. Like always, my bangs wasted no time falling back in front of my eyes, and I shook them away impatiently.

"C-can I ask something?" the large boy asked, still not looking at me.

"Spit it out, Fishlegs," Astrid snapped. "We're not in school; you don't need to raise your hand." He dropped his hand slowly to his side, face flushing red.

"Do you... do you really have a _pet dragon_?" For the first time, he met my eyes. They all did. I nodded. They all gave me looks that seemed to be mixtures of amazement and disbelief.

"And it was that Night Fury that blasted into the arena?" the twin boy asked, taking a step closer. He and his sister each had small grins on their faces.

"Yup. That would be him."

"_Awe_some!" They butted their heads together.

"Well, it's been nice meeting you," Snotlout said, crossing his arms in front of him, "but, you heard the chief. You gotta leave before they get back. You should probably go as soon as possible, just to be safe." I saw the ways his eyes kept flickering to my hand, the one Astrid held like a vice.

I sighed again. "That really won't be a problem if we don't stop them."

"Oh, yeah?" he asked. "Why's that?"

"Because, if we don't, they won't _come back_." They all stood a little straighter, eyes growing a little wider. "If they go, they die."

"They'll be getting the boats ready," Astrid mused. "Maybe we can head them off." I nodded, and we started down the stairs toward the village. Astrid stopped behind me, hand slipping out of mine. She put one on her hip, looking back at the others. "You guys coming, or not?"

They exchanged looks before coming after us. As we walked, I could hear them whispering behind me. "I swear to the gods, Tuffnut, if you poke Hiccup with a stick, I feed you to the Terrible Terrors!" The whispering stopped.

"Maybe we can throw a rock at him..."

"_Tuffnut_!"

"Uh... Ruffnut said it, not me!" Smack. "Ow... Wait, do that again! I liked it..."

~OoO~

Vikings bustled around as they loaded the ships with all manners of dragon-killing weapons. Some glared at me as they passed, others ignored me entirely. I was paying them little attention. My focus was on my father's ship. I could see him standing there, arms crossed and back straight, as he watched four men wrestle a large dragon trap onboard. My heart constricted in my chest. "Toothless..."

"You named a dragon Toothless?" Snotlout snorted. "Yeah, _that's_ intimidating."

I wondered if my father knew I was standing there, if he kept his back to me purposefully, forgetting his failure of an offspring as he lead his men toward their untimely deaths.

"Maybe you can go talk to him," Astrid said, placing a hand on my shoulder. I bowed my head, squeezing my eyes tight shut.

"He didn't listen to me when I _wasn't_ a stain on his good name." I shook my head. "No, he wouldn't let me within a Nightmare's length of him."

I spun around when I heard a familiar, uneven clopping coming up behind us. "Gobber," I sighed, thankful to see the one man who could possibly talk some sense into my father. But he didn't look at me. Not directly. Not in the eyes. "Not you too, Gob!"

"I'm sorry, lad."

"Gob, you have to talk to him." I stepped toward him, but he moved back. I tried to pretend that didn't hurt. "You have to make him change his mind."

"I... Hiccup..." He finally met my eyes. "I agree with him." My last hope, shot down like the Night Fury the night of the raid... gods, that felt like forever ago. "I set you up a boat." He pointed somewhere behind me, but I didn't turn to look. "Astrid can help you get all the supplies you need."

"Gob..."

"Leave, Hiccup. Go find somewhere where you can be..." He vaguely gestured to my whole body.

"You just gestured to all of me..."

"Aye." And he turned away from me. I had never felt more alone, despite Astrid's hand gently on my arm. He stopped, looked back over his shoulder at me. "Good luck, lad."

And the one person I had trusted, counted on my entire life, walked away.

I turned my back on him, refusing to let the tears stinging my eyes fall. My hands, balled into painful fists, shook with the effort. I could hear Astrid speaking softly, her hand back on my shoulder, but I could make out no words, draw no comfort from her presence.

"The ships are leaving." The words broke through my bubble, and I wheeled back around. It was true. The last few men were scrambling into their ships, and they shoved off from the docks. I watched as my father's shrank, getting farther and farther away.

"Toothless... Dad..." They were all going to die. No, I wouldn't let that happen. I couldn't let that happen. "We need to save them." I turned back toward the others, standing straighter. There must have been something in my eyes, the way their faces lit up, the way shock melted into determination.

"How?" Snotlout demanded. I had no answer.

Astrid stepped in front of me, eyes on fire. "What are you going to do?"

"Probably something stupid," I admitted. She smiled.

"Good, but you've already done that." I thought, eyes raking over the teens, scrambling to pull a plan out of air. How could a freak and five dragon killers-in-training stop a Viking fleet from walking to their death?

It hit me like Toothless's tail.

"Then, something crazy!" I started away from the docks. No one followed me. "Well, aren't you guys coming?" After a moment of internal debate, they followed.

~OoO~

I lead them to the dragon arena. It was still trashed from Astrid's fight with the Nightmare. She looked as if she would have rather been anywhere else, but hid it well.

"So, your plan is to what?" Tuffnut asked, eyes glazed over and mouth hanging open. "Get yourself killed?"

"You've definitely come to the right place," Ruffnut agreed. "Though, I'm not sure how that's going to help..." Astrid rolled her eyes, crossing her arms to stop herself from hurting them.

"I'm not going to get myself killed," I said. "I hope... No, we're going to train dragons." I motioned to the dragon pens behind me. Their eyes were as big around as shields.

"We...?" Fishlegs looked like he might pass out at the thought.

"I can't do this alone," I admitted.

"Oh, no!" Snotlout protested. "The only time I'm going anywhere near a dragon is if I'm getting ready to cut its head off, or-"

"You don't understand!" I snapped. "Dragons aren't what we've always thought. They aren't mindless killers; they're animals. They can be trained. They can be flown."

"You've _flown_ a dragon?" Four jaws very nearly hit the ground. I grinned.

"Yup, and it's more amazing than anything you've ever done before. I'm more than happy to show you how." I had them hook, line, and sinker. "Help me open these pens," I asked Astrid.

It was only a moment before four dragons stepped out into the sunlight, curious and blinking as their eyes adjusted to the light. I could feel the tension coming off the Vikings in waves, but I forced myself to keep calm as I led the dragons out slowly. They grumbled in confusion, weary of our intention.

The Gronkle growled in fear, backing away. "Shh..." I said, patting its nose gently. "It's okay. We won't hurt you." It grumbled something in response. "I know, I know. They've tried to hurt you before, but I promise, that's over. They won't hurt you any more." I turned to the other dragons. "They won't hurt any of you."

They calmed down, but were still eyeing the others carefully. I turned to them, and they were staring at me like I had a Terror on my head. "What?"

"Hiccup..." Astrid said slowly, "can you... can you _talk_ to dragons?" That was a silly question.

"Well, yeah. I mean, if you wanted to, you could go talk to... I don't know, a wall, or something."

"No, I mean... do you _understand_ them?" My eyebrows knitted together.

"I... I don't know... I've never thought about it." Before any of them could say anything else, I continued. "Okay, so, the first thing you need to do is establish a bond with your dragon."

"How?" Snotlout asked (_Does his vocabulary include more words, or s that about it_? I wondered), eyes locked on the Nightmare across from him. I smiled and walked over to him.

"I was going to show you, but since you volunteered..."

"What? No!" I pushed him toward the Nightmare slowly.

"You need to show the dragon it can trust you," I explained, grabbing his hand. He jerked it away quickly, before finally letting me guide it toward the dragon. You could practically see the beads of sweat rolling down his face as the Nightmare smelled his hand before it pressed its nose to his palm, eyes closed.

"Hey! Hey, I did it!" I nodded, patting him on the shoulder before walking away. "Wait, where are you going?!" He continued to pet the dragon, slowly gaining confidence.

"Now, the rest of you." I motioned for them to step to. A few moments later, Astrid was bonded with Nadder, Fishlegs with the Gronkle, and the Twins with the Zippleback. "Great!" They were all amazed as they stroked and scratched their dragons heads and necks, even Astrid, who had done it before.

I began rummaging through the bins and crates scattered around the arena. They watched me and when I found what I was looking for, I was met with confusion. "We're gonna need a way to hold on." Rope.

After running through the basics of what I had learned about riding dragons from Toothless and going over the plan I had come up with while they familiarized themselves with their new friends, we were mounted on the dragons, with me paired with Astrid on the Nadder, and we were ready to fly.

"I'm coming, Toothless," I promised quietly as we took to the skies.


End file.
